F. Norman Hill
F. Norman "Pinky" Hill was the president of Little Rock's Capitol Transit Company (CTC) from 1951 to 1955 and Red Arrow Freight Lines from 1955 to 1959.
Drivers and mechanics of local Division 704 of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway, and Motor Coach Employees of America went on strike several times against CTC. On June 1, 1951, Division 704 struck for one day for a ten-cent wage increase. On June 22, 1955, 178 drivers and mechanics of Division 704 struck again for unemployment compensation, this time enlisting lawyer Sid McMath. When Hill hired replacement workers racial tensions increased and violence erupted, culminating with a bus bombing on November 14 at the corner of Twenty Ninth and Battery streets that injured two people.
Hill began with the St. Joseph (Mo.) Railway, Light, Heat, and Power Company from 1942 to 1945. He served St. Louis' National City Lines from 1945 to 1948, and the Baltimore Transit Company from 1948 to 1951. After leaving Little Rock, Hill served as general manager of the San Antonio (Tex.) Transit System from 1959 to 1977, and president of the American Transit Association in 1967-1968.
References
- William Jordan Patty, "'Victory Based on Violence is Undesirable': The Little Rock Bus Strike of 1955-1956," Arkansas Historical Quarterly 61.3 (Autumn 2002): 233-255.
