McDowell County had the largest concentration of African Americans in the West Virginia coal fields. Between the 1870s and 1900s, African Americans came to West Virginia to construct the Norfolk and Western, Chesapeake and Ohio, and the Virginian railroads. After the railroads were completed, many decided to stay, finding work in the developing coal industry. Coal operators sent labor agents to the Deep South to recruit African Americans. These agents described job opportunities in the coalfields and promised higher wages, educational opportunities, and less discrimination. African Americans traveled to McDowell County by train and found work in the coal mines. They lived in company towns and worked with native whites and immigrants. Even though they faced less discrimination there than in other regions, African Americans still had separate schools, churches, restaurants, recreational facilities, hospitals, and drug stores. Others worked outside the coal industry as lawyers, preachers, businessmen, police officers, doctors, and news reporters for the McDowell Times, a black newspaper.