Credit: Alaska State Library Collection, Pipeline Impact Photograph Collection, 1974-1977, ASL-P17-8277
Florine Walker, Trans-Alaska Pipeline culinary worker, 1974-1977
Florine Walker was the first known Black woman hired to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline project. She earned a living as a culinary worker and food server in the camps along the construction route. Work on the pipeline was lucrative but could be grueling with long shifts and little relief. Women like Walker had the added pressure of negotiating the hypermasculine environment of the decade’s largest construction project.
Thousands arrived from around the country to build the 800-mile pipeline. Amid the stagnant economic conditions of the 1970s, working on the pipeline offered high wages and steady employment. While most workers eventually left (including Florine Walker), some stayed in Alaska and put down roots. Alaska’s Black community steadily grew throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s.