Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads as porters on sleeping cars . Starting shortly after the American Civil War , George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passengers’ baggage, shine shoes, set up and maintain the sleeping berths, and serve passengers. Pullman porters served American railroads from the late 1860s until the Pullman Company ceased its United States operations on December 31, 1968, though some sleeping-car porters continued working on cars operated by the railroads themselves and, beginning in 1971, Amtrak . The Pullman Company also operated sleeping cars in Mexico from the 1880s until November 13, 1970. The term "porter" has been superseded in modern American usage by "sleeping car attendant", with the former term being considered "somewhat derogatory".
76-660: Until the 1960s, Pullman porters in the United States were almost exclusively black, and have been widely credited with contributing to the development of the black middle class in America . Under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph , Pullman porters formed the first all-black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters , in 1925. The union was instrumental in the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement . Porters worked under
152-519: A Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1995, Lyn Hughes founded the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum to celebrate both the life of A. Philip Randolph and the role of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and other African-Americans in the U.S. labor movement . Located in South Side, Chicago and housed in one of the original rowhouses built by George Pullman to house workers, it
228-411: A bachelor's degrees. As of 2003, the percentage of black householders is 48%, compared to 43% in 1990. The rise to the middle class for African-Americans occurred throughout the 1960s; however, it leveled off and began to decline in the following decades due to multiple recessions that struck America throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Blacks and other groups suffered the brunt of those recessions. There
304-566: A bellhop and then spent five years as a cook for the Southern Pacific Railroad . Fleming was the co-founder and executive editor of Northern California's largest weekly African-American newspaper, the Sun-Reporter . In a weekly series of articles entitled "Reflections on Black History", he wrote of the contradictions in the life of a Pullman porter: Pullman went on to become the largest single employer of [black people] in America, and
380-504: A chef, before later establishing a successful taxi company, prior to the Great Depression . Within his book My Name's Not George (1998), Stanley Grizzle had provided details about his childhood, reminiscing about the jazz music he was exposed to, his participation in his community as well as his church along with his involvement in sports and annual celebrations for Emancipation Day . Stanley Grizzle had been exposed to racism within
456-406: A conduit of new information and ideas from the wider world to their communities. Many Pullman porters supported community projects, including schools, and saved rigorously to ensure that their children were able to obtain an education and thus better employment. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown were descendants of Pullman porters. Marshall was also
532-402: A former Canadian porter, titled his autobiography, My Name's Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Porters were not paid a livable wage and needed to rely on tips to earn enough to make a living. Walter Biggs, son of a Pullman porter, spoke of memories of being a Pullman porter as told to him by his father: One of the most remarkable stories I liked hearing about
608-485: A fun person to be around. The number of porters employed by railroads declined as sleeping car service dwindled in the 1960s as passenger numbers dwindled due to competition from auto and air travel, and sleeping car services were discontinued on many trains. By 1969, the ranks of the Pullman sleeping car porters had declined to 325 men with an average age of 63. A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up
684-453: A home mortgage, African-American and Hispanic customers are 82% more likely to be turned down for a loan than were white customers. Black renters also favored a 10.7 percent chance of being totally excluded from housing made available to comparable white renters and a 23.3 percent chance of learning about fewer apartments. Discrimination in housing practices and residential segregation leads to substantial wealth gaps across races. Home ownership
760-426: A hotel on wheels. The Pullman Company thought of the porters as a piece of equipment, just like another button on a panel – the same as a light switch or a fan switch." Porters worked 400 hours a month or 11,000 miles, sometimes as much as 20 hours at a stretch. They were expected to arrive at work several hours early to prepare their car, on their own time; they were charged whenever their passengers stole
836-438: A job as a porter as he could not find any other employment and simply that he "did not want to starve". Black porters such as Grizzle were expected to tend to the needs of travellers at all times. Their job included carrying and storing luggage, cleaning toilets, shining shoes, setting up and making beds, pressing clothing, serving food and more. The work of a porter demanded long hours, but gave little compensation. Job security
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#1733094222448912-560: A lot of abuse. Many passengers called every porter "George", as if he were George Pullman's "boy" (servant), a practice that was born in the South where slaves were named after their slavemasters/owners. The only ones who protested were other men named George, who founded the Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George" , or SPCSCPG, which eventually claimed 31,000 members. Although
988-404: A porter himself, as were Malcolm X and the photojournalist Gordon Parks . Berkeley, California Councilman, U.S. Congressman, and Oakland, California Mayor Ron Dellums was also a descendant of Pullman porters. His father was Verney Dellums, a Pullman porter and a longshoreman. His uncle, C.L. Dellums, was a leader in the Brotherhood of Pullman Car Porters union. Ron Dellums served fourteen terms as
1064-582: A porter, Grizzle became active in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), a trade union whose leader was the charismatic African American A. Philip Randolph . Upon his return to Canada after serving in Europe during World War II , Grizzle became more active in the union. He was elected president of his union local, and pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to open the management ranks to black people. He also plunged into other causes and
1140-751: A role in the achievement gap . One explanation that has been suggested for racial and ethnic differences in standardized test performance is that standardized IQ tests and testing procedures are culturally biased toward European-American middle class knowledge and experiences. Social psychologist Claude Steele suggests that minority children and adolescents may also experience stereotype threat —the fear that they will be judged to have traits associated with negative appraisals and/or stereotypes of their race or ethnic group which produces test anxiety and keeps them from doing as well as they could on tests. According to Steele, minority test takers experience anxiety, believing that if they do poorly on their test they will confirm
1216-564: A selling point in their advertisements for the Nancy Hanks well into the 1950s. Prior to the 1860s, the concept of sleeping cars on railroads had not been widely developed. George Pullman pioneered sleeping accommodations on trains, and by the late 1860s, he was hiring only African-Americans to serve as porters. After the Civil War ended in 1865 Pullman knew that there was a large pool of former slaves who would be looking for work; he also had
1292-405: A sense, to have an upper class experience. From the start, Pullman's ads promoting his new sleeper service featured these porters. Initially, they were one of the features that most clearly distinguished his carriages from those of competitors, but eventually nearly all would follow his lead, hiring African-Americans as porters, cooks, waiters and Red Caps (railway station porters). According to
1368-512: A towel or a water pitcher. On overnight trips, they were allocated only three to four hours of sleep – and that was deducted from their pay. A 1926 report by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (which finally achieved recognition by the Pullman Company in 1937), using the results of a survey by the Labor Bureau, Inc., stated that the minimum monthly wage for a regular porter
1444-480: A very clear racial conception. He was aware that most Americans, unlike the wealthy, did not have personal servants in their homes. Pullman also knew the wealthy were accustomed to being served by a liveried waiter or butler, but to staff the Pullman cars with "properly humble" workers in uniform was something the American middle class had never experienced. Hence, part of the appeal of traveling on sleeping cars was, in
1520-510: Is $ 36,000, while white households estimated their parents' median wealth at $ 150,000. African-Americans, who were historically denied access to housing wealth, face a substantial wealth disparity compared to whites. Asset poverty affects an African-American's ability to procure other forms of middle class lifestyle and other forms of wealth. In a project conducted by the University of Washington 's Civil Rights and Labor History Program in 2010, it
1596-426: Is Frank Rollins. If you can't remember that, that's OK. You can call me porter – it's right here on the cap, you can be able to remember that. Just don't call me 'boy' and don't call me George. ' " In August 2013, the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (also known as "The Great March on Washington"), one of
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#17330942224481672-426: Is a related mechanism also used by redliners to keep track of groups, areas, and people that the discriminating party feels should be denied business or aid or other transactions. In the academic literature, redlining falls under the broader category of credit rationing . In a 2001 book entitled Housing Discrimination and Residential Segregation as Causes of Poverty , author John Yinger asserted that when applying for
1748-537: Is a significant black suburbanization lag in which African-Americans are less likely than others to adopt suburban residential patterns. Black suburbs tend to be areas of low socioeconomic status and population density. Many are former manufacturing suburbs with weak tax bases, poor municipal services, and high levels of debt, compromising the secure middle-class lifestyle of its African-American inhabitants. The disparity in expenditures on education between inner cities and affluent suburbs exist almost entirely due to
1824-537: Is also evidence to suggest the wealth gap has been exacerbated by the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009, which took a far greater toll on depleting minority wealth. According to a 2011 study from Pew Research Center, whites possess 20 times more wealth than African-Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. Whereas white families have accumulated $ 113,149 of wealth on average, black households have only accumulated $ 5,677 in wealth on average. As shown on Eurweb.com, of
1900-502: Is concentrated in sales , clerical positions , and blue-collar occupations , while the black upper-middle class (sometimes combined into the black upper class ) is characterized by highly educated professionals in white-collar occupations , such as health care professionals , lawyers , educators , engineers , and accountants . Many African-Americans had limited opportunities for advancement to middle class status prior to 1961 because of racial discrimination , segregation, and
1976-454: Is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior 's Pullman National Historic Landmark District . The museum houses a collection of artifacts and documents related to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters . Additionally, in 2001, the museum began compiling a national registry of black railroad employees who worked for the railroad from the late 1800s to 1969. In 2008, Amtrak, in partnership with
2052-424: Is typically a source of insurance against poverty. However, for blacks and Hispanics, home ownership rates have never made it past 50% [as of 2001]. Segregated housing patterns also keep African-Americans far from suburbanizing jobs and associated job information networks. This mismatch between residential locations and employment reduces the employment options for middle- and lower-class African-Americans. There
2128-621: The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum , and published in 2007. Amtrak enlisted the APR Pullman Porter Museum, and partnered with them using the registry to locate and honor surviving Porters through a series of regional ceremonies. Amtrak also attempted to locate additional survivors in order to interview them for a promotional project. A few remaining living former Pullman porters were found, all of whom were in their 90s or over 100 years old at that time. The project coordinator remarked, "Even today, observers are struck by how elegant
2204-655: The American class structure . It is a societal level within the African-American community that primarily began to develop in the early 1960s, when the ongoing Civil Rights Movement led to the outlawing of de jure racial segregation . The African American middle class exists throughout the United States, particularly in the Northeast and in the South , with the largest contiguous majority black middle-class neighborhoods being in
2280-542: The Federal Housing Administration (FHA). During the heyday of redlining, the areas most frequently discriminated against were black inner city neighborhoods. For example, in Atlanta in the 1980s, a Pulitzer Prize -winning series of articles by investigative reporter Bill Dedman showed that banks would often lend to lower-income whites but not to middle-income or upper-income blacks. The use of blacklists
2356-505: The Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland . The African American middle class is also prevalent in the Atlanta , Baltimore Metropolitan Charlotte , Houston ,Memphis Metropolitan Dallas , Los Angeles , New Orleans ,Philadelphia Metropolitan New York , San Antonio Detroit Metropolitan and Chicago areas. As of the 2010 Census , black households had a median income of $ 43,510, which placed
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2432-450: The 14 million black households in the U.S. in 2015, only 5% had more than $ 350,000 in net worth, and less than 1% of black families had over $ 1 million in net assets. As of 1999, Blacks and whites similarly situated within the "educational middle class" live in distinct wealth worlds. Whereas educationally middle-class whites possessed $ 111,000 in median net worth, educationally middle-class Black families had only $ 33,500; in terms of assets,
2508-609: The A. Philip Randolph Museum, honored Pullman porters in Chicago. Museum founder Lyn Hughes spoke at the event saying, "It's significant when an organization like Amtrak takes the time to honor those who contributed directly to its own history. It's also very appropriate as it's the culmination of the effort to create the Pullman Porter Registry. We started the Registry with Amtrak and now we're coming full circle with its completion and
2584-507: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada (1998), he had mentioned that many Black porters were "intelligent young Black men who had achieved a measure of education that should have guaranteed them a job befitting their academic achievements and in line with their training. They were denied those opportunities by a racist society, and instead had to go into a line of work that forced them into that demeaning role of servant". While working as
2660-445: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters merged with the larger Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks . The black community looked up to Pullman porters and many people credit them as significant contributors to the development of America's black middle class. Black historian and civil-rights activist Timuel Black observed in a 2013 interview: [The Pullman porters] were good looking, clean and immaculate in their dress. Their style
2736-566: The Corporation For Economic Development (CFED) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), which calculated that "it would take 228 years for the average Black family to amass the same level of wealth the average white family holds today in 2016... According to the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, for each dollar of increase in average income an African-American household saw from 1984 to 2009 just $ 0.69 in additional wealth
2812-557: The Museum of the American Railroad: The Pullman Company was a separate business from the railroad lines. It owned and operated sleeping cars that were attached to most long-distance passenger trains. Pullman was essentially a chain of hotels on wheels ... Pullman provided a Porter (attendant) that prepared the beds in the evening and made them in the morning. Porters attended to additional needs such as room service from
2888-600: The Ontario Labour Relations Board. In 1977 he was appointed a Citizenship Judge by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau . In recognition of his work with the BSCP and his civil rights work, Grizzle received the Order of Ontario in 1990 from Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander . As further recognition, he received the Order of Canada in 1995 from Governor General Roméo LeBlanc . Additionally, Grizzle recently received
2964-400: The Pullman Company paid out over $ 10 million in dividends to stockholders from an aggregate net company income of more than $ 19 million. "It didn't pay a livable wage, but they made a living with the tips that they got, because the salary was nothing," says Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. The porters were expected to pay for their own meals and uniforms and
3040-496: The SPCSCPG was more interested in defending the dignity of its white members than in achieving any measure of racial justice, it nevertheless had some effects for all porters. In 1926, the SPCSCPG persuaded the Pullman Company to install small racks in each car, displaying a card with the given name of the porter on duty. Of the 12,000 porters and waiters then working for Pullman, only 362 turned out to be named George. Stanley G. Grizzle ,
3116-697: The Stanley Ferguson Lifetime Accomplishment award and received a grant of 25 shares of Coca-Cola stock. On November 1, 2007, a park on Main Street in Toronto's east end was dedicated the "Stanley G. Grizzle Park" in a ceremony hosted by Toronto Mayor David Miller . Writer Suzette Mayr consulted Grizzle's book My Name's Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada as part of her research for her Giller Prize -winning 2022 novel The Sleeping Car Porter . Stanley
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3192-538: The Toronto community at a young age. When Grizzle was only 10 years old, his father had come home with a bandaged face after being attacked while sleeping in his taxi cab. At 22 years old, Grizzle began working as a porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway in June 1940. During this time, working as a railway porter was one the main jobs available to Canadian Black men in cities such as Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver. Grizzle had explained that he got
3268-538: The age of 97. Stanley Grizzle was born to Theodore Grizzle and Mary Sinclair Grizzle in Toronto in November 1918. Grizzle had grown up in the area of Bathurst and College and was one of seven children in his family. Prior to meeting, Grizzle's parents had both immigrated to Toronto from Jamaica in 1911 and had later met in the city. Mary Grizzle had arrived to Toronto as a domestic worker, while Theodore Grizzle worked as
3344-611: The company required them to pay for the shoe polish used to shine passengers' shoes daily. There was little job security, and the Pullman Company inspectors were known for suspending porters for trivial reasons. According to Larry Tye, who authored Rising from the Rails: The Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class , George Pullman was aware that as former chattel slaves, the men he hired had already received
3420-423: The dining car, sending and receiving telegrams, shining shoes, and valet service. While the pay was very low by the standards of the day, in an era of significant racial prejudice, being a Pullman porter was one of the best jobs available for African-American men. Thus, for black men, while this was an opportunity, at the same time it was also an experience of being stereotyped as the servant class and having to take
3496-490: The dining cars because 'they thought they had a certain personality and a certain demeanor that satisfied the Southern passengers better than the boys who came from Chicago.'" Rollins also spoke of the racist comments that black men experienced but commented on positive experiences as well. He recalled, "I used to have a little speech that I'd make. I would walk into the car, and I would say, 'May I have your attention please. My name
3572-573: The disparity was $ 56,000 to $ 15,000. Looking at only "the occupational middle-class", an equally pronounced gap is visible: middle-class whites had $ 123,000 in median net worth and $ 60,000 in median net financial assets compared to $ 26,500 and $ 11,200 for middle-class African-Americans. According to Thomas Shapiro (2004), white families possess "between three and five times as much wealth as equally achieving Black middle class families." A 2016 article entitled "Black Wealth Hardly Exists, Even When You Include NBA, NFL and Rap Stars" related recent findings of
3648-479: The districting patterns within the school system. Schools in lower-income districts tend to employ less qualified teachers and have fewer educational resources. Research shows that teacher effectiveness is the most important in-school factor affecting student learning. Good teachers can actually close or eliminate the gaps in achievement on the standardized tests that separate white and minority students. The culture and environment in which children are raised may play
3724-616: The elderly men are. When we find them, they are dapper. They are men, even at this age, who wear suits and ties." As early as 1900, Porters started to rally and organize for better wages and treatment. Porters who worked an average of 300-400 hours per month, were paid a fixed monthly wage regardless of hours or length of trips. They were also subjected to easy dismissal or termination based on minor or false accusations by mainly white passengers. Initial efforts were largely unsuccessful and also increased risk of retributory termination for attempting to unionize. The Order of Sleeping Car Conductors
3800-551: The event. The eldest of the five, Lee Gibson, age 98, spoke of his journey to the event (by rail) saying, "It was nice. I got the service I used to give." He spoke of his years as porter with fondness saying, It was a wonderful life." In 2009 Philadelphia honored about 20 of the 200 former Pullman employees who were still alive at that time as part of National Train Day. Speaking to Michele Norris of NPR , former cook and porter Frank Rollins, 93, said "the railway wanted Southern boys to run
3876-525: The fact that most lived in the rural South . In 1960, 43% of the white population completed high school , while only 20% of the black population did the same. African-Americans had little to no access to higher education, and only 3% graduated from college. Those blacks who were professionals were mainly confined to serving the African-American population. Outside of the black community, they often worked in unskilled industrial jobs. Black women who worked were frequently domestic servants . However, black women in
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#17330942224483952-609: The honoring of these great African American men." Hughes is also author of An Anthology of Respect: The Pullman Porter National Historic Registry . In 2009, as part of Black History Month , Amtrak honored Pullman porters in Oakland, California. An AARP journalist writes, "They were dignified men who did undignified labor. They made beds and cleaned toilets. They shined shoes, dusted jackets, cooked meals and washed dishes in cramped and rolling quarters." Amtrak invited five retired members of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to speak at
4028-400: The job of Pullman porter was, for most of the 101-year history of the Pullman Company, one of the very best a Black man could aspire to, in status and eventually in pay. The porter reigned supreme on George's sleeper cars. But the very definition of their jobs, of their kingdom, roiled in contradictions. The porter was servant as well as host. He had the best job in his community and the worst on
4104-885: The largest political rallies for human rights in United States history. Interviewed in a neighborhood newspaper, founder Lyn Hughes suggested that some people in the Chicago area may prefer to celebrate the anniversary of the march in their own community rather than travel to Washington. She added that many people are unaware that Asa Philip Randolph was the initial activist who inspired the March on Washington Movement . Scheduled activities included speakers and screenings of films related to black labor history. Two organizers said that two former Pullman porters, Milton Jones (age 98) and Benjamin Gaines (age 90), were expected to attend. Black middle class The African-American middle class consists of African-Americans who have middle-class status within
4180-529: The median black household within the second income quintile . 27.3% of black households earned an income between $ 25,000 and $ 50,000, 33.2% earned between $ 50,000 and $ 75,000, 7.6% earned between $ 75,000 and $ 100,000, and 9.4% earned more than $ 100,000. Although the composition of the Black middle class varies by definition, the Black middle class is typically divided into a lower-middle class, core middle class, and an upper-middle class. The black lower-middle class
4256-443: The new possibilities. Homeownership has been crucial in the rise of the black middle class, including the movement of African-Americans to the suburbs , which has also translated into better educational opportunities. By 1980, over 50% of the African-American population had graduated from high school and eight percent graduated from college. In 2006, 86% of blacks between age 25 and 29 had graduated from high school and 19% had completed
4332-440: The perfect training and "knew just how to take care of any whim that a customer had". Tye further explained that Pullman was aware that there was never a question that a traveler would be embarrassed by running into one of the porters and having them remember something they had done during their trip that they did not want their wife or husband, perhaps, to know about. Black historian and journalist Thomas Fleming began his career as
4408-436: The post-slavery emerging middle class also worked as teachers, nurses, businesswomen, journalists and other professionals. Economic growth, public policy , Black skill development, and the civil rights movement all contributed to the surfacing of a larger black middle class. The civil rights movement helped to remove barriers to higher education. As opportunities for African-Americans expanded, blacks began to take advantage of
4484-425: The same overtime provision, but they received fewer tips. By contrast, Pullman conductors, who already had a recognized union to bargain for them, earned a minimum $ 150 a month for 240 hours' work. The company offered a health, disability, and life insurance plan for $ 28 a year, and paid a pension of $ 18 a month to porters who reached age 70 and had at least 20 years of service. The BSCP booklet also reports that in 1925
4560-410: The sleeping berths, serve food and drinks brought from the dining car, shine shoes, and keep the cars tidy. He needed to be available night and day to wait on the passengers. He was expected to always smile; thus the porters often called the job, ironically, "miles of smiles". According to historian Greg LeRoy, "A Pullman Porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called
4636-529: The stereotypes about inferior intellectual performance of their minority group. As a result, a self-fulfilling prophecy begins, and the child performs at a level beneath his or her inherent abilities. Some researchers also hypothesize that in some cases, minorities, especially African American students, may stop trying in school because they do not want to be accused of " acting white " by their peers. It has also been suggested that some minority students simply stop trying because they do not believe they will ever see
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#17330942224484712-483: The supervision of a Pullman conductor (distinct from the railroad's own conductor in overall charge of the train), who was invariably white. The Pullman Company employed Mexican men as porters in Mexico. In addition to sleeping cars, Pullman also provided parlor cars and dining cars used by some railroads which did not operate their own; the dining cars were typically staffed with African-American cooks and waiters, under
4788-772: The supervision of a white steward: "With the advent of the dining car, it was no longer possible to have the conductor and porters do double duty: a dining car required a trained staff" and "depending on the train and the sophistication of the meals, a staff could consist of a dozen men." A small number of Asian Americans worked in Pullman dining cars following the 1950s. Pullman also employed African-American maids on deluxe trains to care for women's needs, especially women with children; in 1926, Pullman employed about 200 maids and over 10,000 porters. Maids assisted ladies with bathing, gave manicures and dressed hair, sewed and pressed clothing, shined shoes, and helped care for children. The Central of Georgia Railway continued using this service as
4864-452: The system of property taxes which most school systems rely on for funding. By attending spatially segregated school systems, children of the black middle class do not have access to the same educational and employment opportunities as their white counterparts. In general, minority students are more likely to reside in lower or middle class inner city neighborhoods, meaning minority students are more likely to attend poorly funded schools based on
4940-413: The train. He could be trusted with his white passengers' children and their safety, but only for the five days of a cross-country trip. He shared his riders' most private moments but, to most, remained an enigma if not an enemy. In 2008, Amtrak became aware of The Pullman Porters National Historic Registry of African American Railroad Employees, a five-year research project conducted by Dr. Lyn Hughes, for
5016-495: The true benefits of their hard work. As some researchers point out, minority students may feel little motivation to do well in school because they do not believe it will pay off in the form of a better job or upward social mobility . Stanley G. Grizzle Stanley George Sinclair Grizzle (November 18, 1918 – November 12, 2016) CM , O.Ont was a Canadian citizenship judge, soldier, political candidate and civil rights and labour union activist. He died in November 2016 at
5092-412: Was $ 72.50, with the average being $ 78.11, and tips on average amounting to $ 58.15; however, porters had to pay for their own meals, lodging, uniforms, and shoe-shine supplies, amounting to an average of $ 33.82 a month. Overtime pay of 60 cents per 100 miles was paid only for monthly service in excess of 11,000 miles, or about 400 hours of road service in a month. Maids received a minimum of $ 70 a month, with
5168-672: Was a leader in Canada's nascent civil rights era of the 1950s, working with the Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance. In 1959, Grizzle and Jack White were the first Black Canadian candidates to run for election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the predecessor to the New Democratic Party ). In 1960, Grizzle went to work for
5244-530: Was another worry, as porters could easily be let go. Additionally, Black porters in Canada often experienced racism within their roles. One of the most demeaning aspects of the job was that travellers often called and referred to Black porters as "George", named after George Pullman , the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car . This act of referring to porters as "George" often stripped Black porters of their identity. In Grizzle's book My Name's Not George: The Story of
5320-512: Was formed and slowly working conditions and salaries improved. By forming the first black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Pullman porters also laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement, which began in the 1950s. Union organizer and former Pullman porter E. D. Nixon played a crucial role in organizing the landmark Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama in 1955. It
5396-549: Was found that records of more than 400 properties in Seattle suburbs alone contained now-illegal discriminatory language that formerly excluded several ethnic groups. Another barrier is discriminatory mortgage lending patterns and redlining . Although informal discrimination and segregation had existed in the United States, the specific practice called "redlining" began with the National Housing Act of 1934 , which established
5472-505: Was generated, compared with the same dollar in increased income creating an additional $ 5.19 in wealth for a similarly situated white household." Most contemporary wealth is built in America on home equity . Present-day income is thus an insufficient measure of household socioeconomic status. Looking at disparities between wealth accumulation among African-Americans and whites paints a far more accurate picture of racial socioeconomic differences. The estimated median wealth of black households
5548-436: Was he who bailed Rosa Parks out of jail after she refused to move on the bus, and who selected her as the figure to build the boycott around. By the 1960s, between the decline of the passenger rail system and the cultural shifts in American society, the Pullman porters' contribution became obscured, becoming for some in the African-American community a symbol of subservience to white cultural and economic domination. In 1978,
5624-403: Was how when Jackie Gleason would ride ... all the porters wanted to be on that run. The reason why? Not only because he gave every porter $ 100.00, but it was just the fun, the excitement, the respect that he gave the porters. Instead of their names being George, he called everybody by their first name. He always had like a piano in the car and they sang and danced and had a great time. He was just
5700-542: Was organized on February 20, 1918, in Kansas City, Missouri . Members had to be white males; because the order did not admit Black people, A. Philip Randolph began organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Using the motto "Fight or Be Slaves", on August 25, 1925, 500 porters met in Harlem and decided to make an effort to organize. Under Randolph's leadership the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters ,
5776-476: Was quite manly, their language was carefully crafted, so that they had a sense of intelligence about them. They were good role models for young men ... [B]eing a Pullman porter was a prestigious position because it offered a steady income and an opportunity to travel across the country, which was rare for [black people] at that time. In the late 19th century, Pullman porters were among the only people in their communities to travel extensively. Consequently, they became
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