Black people on the Titanic: Two real ones, plus a folk hero
The Titanic had at least two black passengers, and several more if you count one passenger’s mixed-race children.
1. Joseph Laroche, a wealthy Haitian, originally had first-class tickets on another ship, but because its dining room policies separated parents and children, he exchanged them for second-class tickets on the Titanic so the family could eat together. Laroche went down with the ship. His French wife and their two daughters were saved. Don’t blame race for his death — most of the men stayed behind so more of the women and children could survive.
There’s some debate about whether the Laroches endured racism on board the ship:
…a letter that Juliette wrote to her father while the Titanic was at Queenstown, Ireland, paints a different picture. She did not mention any racially motivated incidents directed at her or her family. In fact, she wrote that they had become acquainted with another French family, whom they had traveled from Paris with on the train and dined with onboard the ship. She also wrote that “the people onboard are very nice.” It should be kept in mind, however, that when Juliette Laroche wrote her letter, she and her family had been aboard the ship for less than 24 hours. They would spend four more days at sea — plenty of time to experience the conditions outlined by Hughes and the Inquirer.
2. Victor Giglio, the personal secretary to Benjamin Guggenheim, traveled first class. It’s said the two men chose to die like gentlemen, drinking brandy together. Some writers suggest Giglio wouldn’t have been able to get a place on a lifeboat because of the color of his skin, but since rich white men also couldn’t get seats, it’s impossible to guess whether class would’ve trumped race in a choice between a white man in third class and a black one in first.
3. Shine was the Titanic’s mythical black crewman. In folk hero fashion, the sinking of the ship didn’t trouble him a bit. In every telling of the story, rich white people drown while he swims all the way to New York.
Shine jumped in the water and commenced to swim, four thousand millionaires watchin’ him. Captain say, “Shine, Shine, save poor me, I’ll make you richer than old John D.” Shine turned around and took another notion. Say, “Captain, your money’s counterfeit in this big-assed ocean.”
Bonus historical tidbit: Leadbelly’s Titanic song claims the boxer Jack Johnson couldn’t get a ticket on the Titanic. It isn’t true, but it makes for a fine song: