Pullman Porters: Courteous and Efficient Service

Bee

Captain
Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Gettysburg 2017
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
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http://www.newblackmaninexile.net/2015/09/pullman-porters-ordinary-men.html

'They made beds and cleaned toilets. They shined shoes, dusted jackets, cooked meals and washed dishes. Yet the Pullman porters created history in the face of adversity and racial prejudice. They helped form the foundation for the black middle class, and became instrumental in the civil rights movement.

' .

' +aarpbulletintoday



Pullman Porters Provide Courteous and Efficient Service

George Pullman also developed a system which included hiring Pullman porters who provided courteous and efficient service to passengers and kept the Pullman sleeping cars impeccably clean. Pullman porters worked for the Pullman Company. Pullman porters set up the sleeping car while it was in the yards, greeted passengers, and helped passengers settle into their rooms or sections. They took care of the passengers needs while they were on board. The porter was responsible for monitoring the cars air conditioning and heating systems, making the beds each evening, cleaning the rooms, shining shoes, pressing suits, mailing letters and telegrams, and bringing meals into rooms on request. All bedding was removed and cleaned daily. Strict standards were maintained on all Pullman cars, a 127 page manual and a 14 day instruction period in the yards covered all of the fundamentals.

While still a menial job in many respects, Pullman offered better pay and security than most jobs open to African Americans at the time, in addition to a chance for travel, and it was a well regarded job in the African-American community of the time. The pullman attendants, regardless of their true name, were traditionally referred to as "George" by the travelers, the name of the company's founder, George Pullman. The Pullman company was the largest employer of African Americans in the United States.

Pullman also employed cafe-food service attendants on trains where Pullman provided a cafe or lounge-buffet car. When the cafe or lounge-buffet car also included rooms, the attendants often doubled at the Porter. On some trains a busboy was also employed to help.

The Pullman Conductor was the on board manager of all the Pullman cars in the passenger train. http://www.railswest.com/technology/pullman.html


From the company’s earliest days, Pullman solely hired black workers to serve as porters. Pullman’s recruitment was in part altruistic, but also deeply paternalistic and informed by racial pressuppositions. A longtime Republican and supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Pullman saw the position as an opportunity for the millions of former slaves recently freed by the Civil War. Yet Pullman’s choice to hire only black men and women to serve as porters and maids reflected his belief that the only position suitable black workers was to serve white people. The only positions open to black workers in the model town of Pullman, for example, was the Hotel Florence’s service staff such as waiters, cooks, and maids. The documents collected here reflect the centrality of the porter to the Pullman experience, while also conveying the segregated nature of their work.http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/exhibits/show/pullman-landmarks-2011/on-the-trains





Pullman-Porter_cover-page.jpg


This pamphlet explains to the public what the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was, why they organized, and what they sought to accomplish, which was better working conditions and wages from the Pullman Palace Car Company. Pullman porter pamphlet


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http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/219

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http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/27

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http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/156
http://dcc.newberry.org/items/the-pullman-porter--2
 
The most famous Pullman Porter I know of ultimately called himself Malcom X.

He got an education on the rails, for sure. Read his autobiography if you don't believe me.
 
The most famous Pullman Porter I know of ultimately called himself Malcom X.

He got an education on the rails, for sure. Read his autobiography if you don't believe me.

You are correct -- 1943. Geez: There is so much intriguing history on the Pullman porters, that I could have made this thread HUGE.
 
You are correct -- 1943. Geez: There is so much intriguing history on the Pullman porters, that I could have made this thread HUGE.

Yep. They struggled, just like every other group of industrialized workers, to organize and assert themselves. They ultimately succeeded, under Philip Randolph, to unionize and put the screws to their (Northern) employers. A railroad strike before WWII could be a crippling event, dontcha know?
 
General Bee, the story of the Pullman Porters is a good one. Thank you for posting.

I didn't mean to derail with 20th century goings-on.

It's all interesting to me. Part of the problem I had when I started the thread was that the interesting stuff really took place during the verboten Modern History. I had to pick a cut-off point. Even Plessy v Ferguson touches on these luxury cars and workers....!
 
Yes, that is relatively recent, I think. Randolph was not a very big hero, in the North, in his day. I would not be surprised to hear they tried to kill him.
Dad, a Republican, and mom, a New Deal Dem, always talked about him back half-a-century ago with a lot of reverence. The bosses would have liked to knock off a lot of labor leaders, as I recall.
 
Dad, a Republican, and mom, a New Deal Dem, always talked about him back half-a-century ago with a lot of reverence. The bosses would have liked to knock off a lot of labor leaders, as I recall.

Pat, this is a Civil War forum and I go with my Mother's Southern family. For the record, my Dad's grandfather was born to Irish immigrants after the fact and was beaten to within an inch of his life, in the early 20th century, trying to organize garment industry workers into a union.

A garment factory is one thing, the American railroad system is another altogether. That is why Randolph was revered and remains famous.
 
Especially on the IC, the porters served as a very reliable communications line. Black newspapers from the deep South were brought north by the porters. Chicago's black community had a direct line to their (those that came from there) roots in the Delta.

The recording industry, when it first started out, was extremely regional. There just wasn't a nation-wide distribution system. Many of the greatest Bluesman came from the Delta. And moved to Chicago / Detroit. They were very influenced by the current 'sounds' (race records) coming out of and recorded in the South via the supply of 45s brought north by the porters. The flow worked it the reverse also.

These men served as a human 'telegraph' to those of their complexion on both ends of the line. They provided the continuity.

One of my sources - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142004081/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Great story ...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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Book details how railroad porters helped lead civil rights efforts in U.S., Canada
By BERT GAMBINI
Published April 3, 2019

“Life is better for many because of these men. They were active in taking on the government and creating a society where there is social justice and everyone is entitled to the benefits of a common citizenship.”

The sleeping car porters were an essential element to the growing fortunes of the 19th century railroad industry, but beyond their professional roles, the porters, through their diligence and activism, helped amend immigration policy and secure civil rights for a marginalized population, according to Cecil Foster, professor and chair of the Department of Transnational Studies, and author of the new book “They Call Me George: The Untold Story of the Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada.”

“While this is a story of what happened in Canada, it is still part of the American narrative,” says Foster, a novelist, journalist and scholar, and an expert in Canadian studies and multiculturalism. “The sleeping car porters are an important part of the black experience, and coming out of slavery we can hear its transnational orientation.” “These men on the trains, coming out of Harlem and Chicago and Montreal and Toronto, formed a transnational black community,” he says. “Great leaders A. Phillip Randolph and others emerged from this community to work with Martin Luther King. “They challenged the system across North America and are responsible for many of the gains during the civil rights movement. Their contributions shouldn’t be underestimated.” With the introduction of luxury Pullman cars in the 1870s, railroads needed employees to take care of passengers’ every need. Porters staffed the transcontinental Pullman cars as domestic servants. Pullman cars allowed passengers to stay on trains rather than rent hotel rooms during layovers; Jim Crow laws, meantime, prevented the car’s porters from staying at the hotels their passengers no longer needed.

Full article and review can be found here - http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2019/04/foster-porters.html
690

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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