Rising from the Rails - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Rising from the Rails write by Larry Tye. This book was released on 2005-06-01. Rising from the Rails available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. "A valuable window into a long-underreported dimension of African American history."—Newsday An engaging social history that reveals the critical role Pullman porters played in the struggle for African American civil rights When George Pullman began recruiting Southern blacks as porters in his luxurious new sleeping cars, the former slaves suffering under Jim Crow laws found his offer of a steady job and worldly experience irresistible. They quickly signed up to serve as maid, waiter, concierge, nanny, and occasionally doctor and undertaker to cars full of white passengers, making the Pullman Company the largest employer of African American men in the country by the 1920s. In the world of the Pullman sleeping car, where whites and blacks lived in close proximity, porters developed a unique culture marked by idiosyncratic language, railroad lore, and shared experience. They called difficult passengers "Mister Charlie"; exchanged stories about Daddy Jim, the legendary first Pullman porter; and learned to distinguish generous tippers such as Humphrey Bogart from skinflints like Babe Ruth. At the same time, they played important social, political, and economic roles, carrying jazz and blues to outlying areas, forming America's first black trade union, and acting as forerunners of the modern black middle class by virtue of their social position and income. Drawing on extensive interviews with dozens of porters and their descendants, Larry Tye reconstructs the complicated world of the Pullman porter and the vital cultural, political, and economic roles they played as forerunners of the modern black middle class. Rising from the Rails provides a lively and enlightening look at this important social phenomenon. • Named a Recommended Book by The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Seattle Times
The Pullman Porters and West Oakland
The Pullman Porters and West Oakland - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Pullman Porters and West Oakland write by Thomas Tramble. This book was released on 2007. The Pullman Porters and West Oakland available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A hub of transportation and industry since the mid-19th century, West Oakland is today a vital commercial conduit and an inimitably distinct and diverse community within the Greater Oakland metropolitan area. The catalyst that transformed this neighborhood from a transcontinental rail terminal into a true settlement was the arrival of the railroad porters, employed by the Pullman Palace Car Company as early as 1867. After years of struggling in labor battles and negotiations, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union became the first African Americanaled union to sign a contract with a large American company. The unionas West Coast headquarters were established at Fifth and Wood Streets in West Oakland. Soon families, benevolent societies, and churches followed, and a true community came into being.
Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945
Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945 - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945 write by Beth Tompkins Bates. This book was released on 2003-01-14. Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945 available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Between World War I and World War II, African Americans' quest for civil rights took on a more aggressive character as a new group of black activists challenged the politics of civility traditionally embraced by old-guard leaders in favor of a more forceful protest strategy. Beth Tompkins Bates traces the rise of this new protest politics--which was grounded in making demands and backing them up with collective action--by focusing on the struggle of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) to form a union in Chicago, headquarters of the Pullman Company. Bates shows how the BSCP overcame initial opposition from most of Chicago's black leaders by linking its union message with the broader social movement for racial equality. As members of BSCP protest networks mobilized the black community around the quest for manhood rights and economic freedom, they broke down resistance to organized labor even as they expanded the boundaries of citizenship to include equal economic opportunity. By the mid-1930s, BSCP protest networks gained platforms at the national level, fusing Brotherhood activities first with those of the National Negro Congress and later with the March on Washington Movement. Lessons learned during this era guided the next generation of activists, who carried the black freedom struggle forward after World War II.
Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle
Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle write by Jack Santino. This book was released on 1991. Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. As service workers in a luxurious sleeping-car train system, Pullman porters had both the highest status in the black community and the lowest rank on the train. They were trapped in the dual roles of charming host and obedient servant, and their constant smiles--even in the face of unreasonable demands by white passengers--were part of the job requirement. Jack Santino's interviews with retired porters provide extensive firsthand accounts of their work, the job inequities they faced, the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the aborted Pullman porter strike of 1928. Through the testimony of ran-and-file workers as well as key figures such as E. D. Nixon, the porter who initiated the Montgomery bus boycott and helped launch the career of Martin Luther King, Jr. and C.L. Dellums, the only surviving founding member of the BSCP, Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle illuminates the Pullman porters' struggle for dignity.
A Long Hard Journey
A Long Hard Journey - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook A Long Hard Journey write by Pat McKissack. This book was released on 1989. A Long Hard Journey available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A chronicle of the first Black-controlled union, made up of Pullman porters, who after years of unfair labor practices staged a battle against a corporate giant resulting in a "David and Goliath" ending.
