- Joined
- Dec 21, 2015
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
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
http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/219
http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/27
http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/items/show/156
http://dcc.newberry.org/items/the-pullman-porter--2