Turner Station, Maryland, is a century-old African American neighborhood just east of Baltimore that housed the families of workers who were employed at a nearby steel plant from the founding of the community in the early 1900s until the plant closed in 2012. Its story provides a window into the lives of the understudied Black working-class during the peak decades of industrial employment and the ensuing decades of decline. Long-time residents recall a vibrant, self-sufficient community with a heterogeneous class structure, produced in part by residential restrictions and employment discrimination that constrained professionals such as physicians and teachers to reside and to practice or work in the neighborhood. They report a high level of collective efficacy and joint responsibility for childrearing. Current and former residents describe a strong emphasis on education as a means of upward mobility. As levels of education rose and residential opportunities opened, the children of the mid-century steelworkers left Turner Station for other communities in the metropolitan area and beyond. As out migration continued, the community suffered a decline: virtually all of the businesses are gone, vacant homes are common, and a more transient population has moved in. The members of the Turner Station diaspora still cherish the memory of the neighborhood, even as many have moved on and up. Their achievements show what happened when a generation of African Americans were given access to decent-paying jobs that did not require a college education—a degree of access that no longer exists because of the decline of industrial employment in the Baltimore region and elsewhere.

马里兰州特纳站是巴尔的摩以东的一个具有百年历史的非裔美国人社区，从 1900 年代初社区成立到 2012 年工厂关闭，附近一家钢铁厂的工人家庭都住在这里。在工业就业高峰时期和随后的几十年衰退期间，提供了一个了解未被充分研究的黑人工人阶级生活的窗口。长期居住在这里的居民回忆起一个充满活力、自给自足、阶级结构异质化的社区，部分原因是居住限制和就业歧视限制了医生和教师等专业人士在附近居住、实习或工作。他们报告了高水平的集体效能和共同抚养孩子的责任。现任和前任居民都将教育作为向上流动的一种手段。随着教育水平的提高和居住机会的增加，本世纪中叶钢铁工人的孩子们离开了特纳车站，前往大都市区及其他地区的其他社区。随着外迁的继续，社区遭受了衰落：几乎所有的企业都消失了，空置房屋很常见，更多的流动人口搬进来。特纳站侨民的成员仍然怀念这个社区，即使许多人不断进步。