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Labor Pains The Struggles of the First Black Union for Recognition

The Beginning of the Pullman Company

George Pullman formed the Pullman Car Company in 1862. The company created luxury sleeping cars that many described as “hotels on wheels” for long distance travel.

In 1867, Pullman began to use newly freed black slaves as porters. He did this because he believed that they would do the work for little pay, and that they would be seen as natural servants by the train riders.

By 1920, the Pullman Co. employed over twenty-thousand African-Americans who worked as porters or other staff. This made them the single largest employer of black labor in North America at the time. Being a porter was a status symbol in the black community, as it was seen as better than manual labor, and offered steady (if meager) pay. With that being said, the job of a Pullman Porter was not without its downsides.

Working Conditions of the Pullman Porters

The biggest issue that the Pullman porters faced was how little they were actually paid, and the hoops that they had to jump through to get it. To qualify for their $78 a month (approximately $1200 today), a porter had to work at least 400 hours on the train. This did not include that the time porters took to prepare for customers before or after a trip.

Pamphlet advertising Porter services. Created by Samuel Ehrheart, 1901.

While they made money from tips, they were also required to pay for their own supplies. Maids received even less pay for the same amount of work and did not have the benefit of tips. Both maids and porters also had to work almost nonstop, as they were allowed only one 3 hour rest period on any train trip.

To top it all off, porters and maids both faced constant discrimination from both passengers and supervisors. Under these conditions, it was only a matter of time before the porters tried to unionize.

The 1894 Riot

In 1894 the American Railway Union called for a strike at the Pullman factory in Chicago. Negotiations between the Union and the Pullman Co. broke down and the workers rioted in and around the city. Federal troops had to be deployed to suppress the riots. By the time order was restored, rioters had destroyed hundreds of railcars at the Pullman factory yards.

While Pullman porters did not take part in the strikes, they were still inspired to attempt to create a union of their own. Porters began to make serious attempts to organize in 1900.

An artist's depiction from Harper's Weekly of federal troops firing on rioters in Chicago during the 1894 Pullman Strike.

The Pullman company had many tools to counter unionization efforts. They first created a benefits program which charged porters a monthly fee for sick leave. They also had spies amongst the porters whose job it was to report any pro-union activity to the company. Porters that were discovered to be part of a union other than the one approved by the company were fired on the spot. What the porters needed was a leader, and they found one in a young man named A. Philip Randolph.

Randolph: Labor Organizer Extraordinaire

Asa Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida in 1889, and grew up in Jacksonville. He took an early interest in civil rights thanks to his parents, and from reading W.E.B DuBois’ The Soul of Black Folk. Randolph graduated as valedictorian of his high school class in 1907 and began focusing on singing and acting. In 1911 Randolph moved to Harlem to further pursue a career in acting.

Photograph of A. Philip Randolph taken by the Office of War Information. 1942.

While his acting career ultimately failed, Randolph soon took an active interest in the growing labor movement. In 1917 he began publishing The Messenger, a pro-labor magazine with his partner, Chandler Owens. He also joined the American Federation of Labor (AFL), but later left after it refused to desegregate.

In 1925, Randolph was approached by a group of porters about attempting to form a union in opposition to the Pullman company. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black union, was born.

Early Struggles

Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) faced difficulties from the beginning. The BSCP did enjoy the support of the veteran porters, but not the newer porters. It also faced opposition from not only the Pullman company, but also the black community as a whole. This was because they saw unionization as a form of betrayal to the company that had provided much for them.

Many in the community also doubted that Randolph and the BSCP would succeed, since they had seen similar efforts fail many times already.

Poster encouraging railroad workers to strike. 1894.

Notable community opponents to the BSCP included a majority of the clergy in the black community, as well as prominent Chicago newspapers like the Chicago Whip, and the Chicago Defender. Both of these papers were either owned or financed by the Pullman Company. Randolph and the BSCP were desperate for allies, luckily a group of women was willing to hear their message.

The Role of Women

Enough cannot be said about the role that women played in the success of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Women's groups like the Wells Club and the Alpha Suffrage Club led by early Civil Rights activist Ida B. Wells were early supporters of the porters’ fight to unionize.

These groups gravitated towards the BSCP for several reasons. They were receptive to the BSCP's call for economic independence and equal rights for all workers. They also believed that the BSCP was just as much a social movement as it was a labor movement. The support of the women's clubs meant that the BSCP had a way to reach the wider community despite the negative press from Pullman newspapers.

The wives of porters supported their husbands by hosting union meetings in their homes, buying goods from union-approved stores, and spreading pro-union material to others. One of these wives would go on to play an even greater role in organizing women for the BSCP.

Photograph of Ida B. Wells taken in 1893. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

“There must always be a remedy for wrong and injustice if we only know how to find it.”- Ida B. Wells

Rosina Tucker: The Woman Behind the BSCP

Rosina Tucker (1881-1987) was the woman largely credited with helping to spread the message of the BSCP during its early years.

After her husband joined the union in the early 1920s, Tucker was brought in by Randolph himself to deliver letters to union men in secret. Since she was not an official member of the BSCP, Tucker was able to help the union without the Pullman Co. knowing for several years. Tucker believed that instead of supporting their husbands from home, women had a duty to take a more active role in organizing workers and spreading the union's message.

Tucker went on to establish and become president of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the BSCP in 1925 as a formal way of organizing women to support the union. She used her position to make connections with other trade unions like the Women’s Trade Union League to further promote worker's rights, and later Civil Rights.

Left to right: Rosnia Tucker, A. Philip Randolph, and Helena Wilson. Courtesy of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

“Material was sent to me and I personally disseminated it to the men. I kept them in touch with what was going on, because it was dangerous for them to let it be known even to each other that they were members or had expressed any interest in the Brotherhood.” - Rosina Tucker

The Fight Continues

With the support of the women's clubs, the BSCP was able to begin directly challenging the Pullman Co. for the support of both porters and the public. The BSCP began by attacking the Pullman Co.’s Employee Representation Plan (ERP). The ERP amounted to a union that the company would be able to directly control. They argued that in order to have true equality, the porters needed a union that was independent from the company.

In 1927, public opinion began to turn in the favor of Randolph and the BSCP, and the Chicago Defender began printing positive stories about Randolph and the BSCP. That same year the Chicago Citizens’ Committee was formed, which allowed the BSCP access to important allies in the business community. In 1935 Randolph was able to force a vote in which porters would decide if they wanted to be represented by the BSCP, or the Pullman-backed ERP.

The 1935 Vote that Legitimized the BSCP

Randolph and the BSCP had made significant gains since forming in 1925. Yet there was still no guarantee that they would be the official union for Pullman Porters. By early 1935 they had gained enough of a following that they were invited into the AFL. This not only made the BSCP the first black union to join the AFL, it also further boosted their legitimacy to the public. That same year, Randolph successfully petitioned for porters and maids to be included in the Railroad Labor Act.

Randolph at an AFL Meeting. Circa 1950. Courtesy of The University of Maryland Archive.

Despite these wins, the Pullman Co. refused to recognize the BSCP. They instead asserted that their ERP was the official union for all Pullman porters. The federal government stepped in and proposed a nation-wide vote amongst the porters to make a final decision. In July, 1935 the votes went out, and in the end Randolph and the BSCP won by a landslide.

The Pullman Co. tried to stall for time in the hopes that the federal government would overturn the vote. However, after two year they finally signed a labor contract with the BSCP in 1937. With that, the Pullman Co. became the first major company in the U.S. to sign with an all African-American union. After twelve long years, Randolph and the BSCP had finally won.

Legacy of the BSCP

By all accounts, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters never should have succeeded in their quest to unionize. Between the lack of community support, and almost going bankrupt, the BSCP was at a constant disadvantage. Failure was an ever present possibility for A. Philip Randolph and the BSCP until the very end.

After twelve years of grinding away, their hard work paid off. Randolph used the momentum from the BSCP’s win to continue the fight for civil rights. He helped organize a 1940 march on Washington to end discrimination against black workers in the defense industry. In 1948, Randolph participated in another march that helped end segregation in the military.

While Randolph was a key part of the success of the BSCP, he did not do it alone. The Ladies’ Auxiliary and other womens' groups like it assisted the BSCP every step of the way. It also took the porters themselves taking a stand against unfair treatment from the Pullman Company. In the end, the recognition of the BSCP was more than a victory for labor rights, it was a victory for civil rights.

Photograph of A. Philip Randolph on the day of the March on Washington. 1963. Courtesy of National Archives.
"I don't ever remember a single day of hopelessness. I knew from the history of the labor movement, especially of the black people, that it was an undertaking of great trial. That, live or die, I had to stick with it, and we had to win." - A. Philip Randolph

Credits:

Slide 1. Image from page 24 from Baltimore and Ohio employees’ magazine, 1920. Courtesy of University of Maryland, College Park. Slide 2. George Mortimer Pullman photograph, William S. Warren, circa 1970. Slide 3. Puck illustration “The Pullman porter’s ‘kick’”, S.D. Ehrhart, 1901. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Background image: Sleeping car pulled by the William Crooks, Pullman Company, 1924. Slide 4. "National Guardsmen firing into the mob at Loomis and 49th Streets, July 7th," G.W. Peters, Harpers Weekly, July 21 1894. Background image: Remains of Illinois Central Railroad’s Fordham Yard on July 5 and 6, 1894. Illinois Central Magazine, 1922. Slide 5. A. Phillip Randolph, Gordon Parks, November 1942. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Background image: Pullman Palace Car Company Workshops Chicago, Detroit Publishing Company, circa 1900. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Slide 6. Broadside deciding on Strike, American Railway Union, May 22 1894. Courtesy of Newberry Library. Background image: “The Condition of Laboring Man at Pullman” political cartoon, Chicago Labor Newspaper, 1894. Slide 7. Ida B. Wells-Barnett photograph, Salle E. Garrity, 1893 . Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Slide 8. Helena Wilson, A. Philip Randolph, and Rosina C. Tucker. Alexander Archer, 1950. Courtesy of African American Museum & Library at Oakland. Slide 9. Workers at Main Gate, The Story of Pullman, 1891. Courtesy of Newberry Library, In The Shops Collection. Slide 10. Randolph at an AFL Meeting. Circa 1950. Courtesy of The University of Maryland Archive. Slide 11. A. Phillip Randolph, March on Washington, Rowland Scherman, 1963. Courtesy of National Archives. Background image: Pullman Porter preparing a bed, Frank William, Pullman Company, 1940. Courtesy of Newberry Library, Chicago and the Midwest Collection.