The Railroad Workers Behind the Civil Rights Movement

During the Civil War, trains became an integral part of transporting soldiers and materials for both sides. Railways expanded and trains became faster, ensuring that more passenger trains could run each day. Following the Civil War, the “Golden Age” of train travel began and railroads became the preferred mode of transport. 

As railroad travel became more prevalent, job opportunities increased, and the way in which long-term travel was undertaken began to change. At the same time, a new labor pool of formally enslaved people hit the job market, providing the workforce that the rails desperately needed. 

Long-term travel required more comfortable accommodations, which opened the door for the first luxury sleeper service, created by George Pullman of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The sleeper cars, which increased luxury and comfort, were well loved by passengers. For wealthy travelers, it brought their typical way of life onto the railroad, and for the middle-class, it gave them a chance to experience something new.

Proven successful, Pullman placed his first porter aboard sleeper cars in the late 1860s, which became yet another staple of this sort of travel. Pullman went on to expand the luxury of passenger service by introducing a top-tier workforce, who were named the Pullman Porters. 

Capitalization on Black Labor

George Pullman capitalized on the sudden influx of Black Americans into the work force and understood that he could pay low wages to people who had previously been forced to provide free labor. Pullman also purported that formerly enslaved men would make the best servants, as they were already expected to be obedient. For these reasons, Black men were selected to be Pullman porters. 

Pullman porters were service workers who worked 400 hours a month. They were tasked with preparing sleeping arrangements, carrying baggage, and generally attending to passengers. They provided around-the-clock service, upholding the quality expected of a luxury travel experience. 

Aboard the trains, Pullman porters were subjected to conditions reminiscent of times of enslavement. They were often referred to as “boy” or “George,” dismissing their identity and reducing them to the property of their employer. The presence of porters gave passengers a feeling of elevation and an approximation to the servitude that had just been done away with during the not-so-distant Civil War. Porters were also expected to pay for their own uniforms and meals onboard the train. 

Opportunities Afforded by Railroad Service

Despite Pullman’s clear perspective of inferiority toward Black men and the clear racism endured from passengers, the career had an impact on the opportunities afforded to them. Porters made more than many other Black workers at the time, were able to travel, and had comparatively more physically forgiving jobs. The work was more consistent and, though the flat wage was poor from the Pullman company, porters could make additional money from tips on the train. 

Some Pullman porters spent their entire lives working on the railroad, while others used their experience to attain higher-paying jobs.  In some cases, these men were able to move onto jobs in larger and higher-end establishments, including hotels, fancy restaurants, and even the White House.  Porters were also afforded a degree of social mobility within the Black community. They were well respected. 

Nationwide travel also gave these men the chance to access new ideas, which they reported back to prominent Black American newspapers. Once they received the information, the newspapers would publish advertisements for opportunities in the North and West, as well as sharing accounts of success. These jobs were typically in highly industrialized fields, such as slaughterhouses, factories and foundries, which were dangerous and undesirable to white citizens in those areas. While these jobs were unsafe, these positions granted Black people new opportunities. 

Porters were also available to save money to send their children and grandchildren into higher education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The children and grandchildren of porters went on to form the Black professional class and pursued a vast array of different fields, many of them becoming well known, like Wilma Rudolph and Thurgood Marshall.

“Brotherhood Fighting for Fair Agreement” - The Black Worker, 1937 

At the dawn of the 20th century, railroaders were unionizing. Throughout the late 19th century, as railroad workers grew tired of poor working conditions, low pay, and lack of protection, it became clear that it was time to fight for their rights. Membership restrictions based on race left Pullman porters and maids unprotected. Porters made up 44 percent of the Pullman Company’s workforce, and yet they were excluded from the Railway Union and other organizations that accepted white Pullman employees.

The porters, to gain the protections that were already afforded to others, tried to organize as early as 1909, but their attempts were often threatened with the loss of their jobs. By the 1920s, over 20,000 Black Americans were employed as Pullman porters and other train personnel, making up the largest category of Black labor in the United States. 

It was not until 1925, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, that the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) came together in New York City and began a collective fight for unionization. The BSCP motto, “Fight or Be Slaves,” and articles published in a variety of newspaper, including The Black Worker and The Baltimore Afro-American, conveyed the conditions and capitalization of Black labor. BSCP also included maids, who were Black women tasked with babysitting white children on the trains.

For 12 years, BSCP fought, forcing the Pullman Company to recognize the organization as the official union of the Pullman porters. The agreement between BSCP and the Pullman Company was the first major labor agreement between a Black union and a corporation. The agreement granted job security, decreased working hours, provided a general raise in wages, and increased protection through grievance procedures. The BSCP also became the first Black American union to be recognized by the American Federation of Labor. 

The Fight for Equal Rights

Randolph used the success of the BSCP as a framework for national social changes. The collective work and community involvement showed Randolph and other members of the BSCP how they could continue the fight for equality. The BSCP had a significant impact on shaping the Black middle class and laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.

In June of 1941, the influence of the organization was pivotal to the signing of Executive Order 8802 by President Franklin Roosevelt, which aimed at ending discriminatory hiring practices within the defense industry. Executive Order 8802 also led to the creation of the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which expanded the opportunities for Black Americans. 

Edgar D. Nixon, a BSCP organizer and former Pullman porter, personally played a pivotal role in the 1955 civil rights protests within Montgomery, Alabama. Edgar D. Nixon was involved in the organization of the bus boycott, asking young minister Martin Luther King Jr. to oversee the protest while Nixon was working on the rails. He also bailed Rosa Parks out of jail and had the foresight to use her as the face of the boycott. 

In 1963, Randolph continued his fight for equal rights as the Director of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Then BSCP leader, Randolph worked directly with Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the march and ensured that it was attended by porters from the organization. 

Today, the impact of the Pullman porters and BSCP can be seen across the nation. They paved the way for higher education opportunities, the professional working class, and the fight for equal rights. They were the fathers of individuals who went on to become household names, and the backbone of the luxurious image that people associate with historical rail travel. Though important to the development of the Black community and even labor laws, many have never even heard of the Pullman porters. 

Learn More

Physical reminders of the porters remain to this day, a great deal of which are stored within the archives of the B&O Railroad Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland. Though not all Pullman-associated objects can be displayed – the scale of their impact on railroading means that there are hundreds upon thousands of artifacts – the Museum proudly maintains a Pullman porter exhibit dedicated solely to the porters and their work.