Pullman travel was intimately linked with civil rights affairs throughout the 20th century. The landmark Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896) involved a man travelling on a Pullman car. The ruling upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations (particularly railroad cars), under the doctrine of "separate but equal." (from Wikipedia)
A member of the board of the Pullman Bank, Robert Todd Lincoln became the second president of the Pullman Company, elevated to the thankless task of rescuing the Pullman Company from insolvency after Pullman's death. He performed this task with ruthless efficiency, making life difficult for Pullman porters and other passenger car personnel by inaugurating a wage system heavily dependent on tips.
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In the early 20th century, Porters were dependent on tips for much of their income; that, in turn, made them dependent on the whims of white passengers. Porters spent roughly ten percent of their time in unpaid set-up and clean-up duties, had to pay for their food, lodging, and uniforms, and were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher. Porters could ride at half fare on their days off - but not on Pullman coaches. They also could not be promoted to conductor, a job reserved for whites, even though they frequently performed many of the conductors' duties.
![]() "Plea of the Pullman Porters" The Chicago Defender, December 31, 1910 |
![]() "Cheap U.S. Senator" The Chicago Defender, July 31, 1909 |
There is not a part of the United States that during the height of rail travel was not ably served by the Pullman Porter.
![]() "From Bandits" The Chicago Defender, November 23, 1912 |
![]() "Railway Passenger Suddenly Goes Insane" The Chicago Defender, April 27, 1918 |
The Hammond circus train wreck occurred on June 22, 1918, and was one of the worst circus train wrecks in U.S. history. 86 persons died and another 127 were injured when a locomotive engineer fell asleep and ran his train into the rear of another near Hammond, Indiana.
Following years of boll weevil infestation, Jim Crow tenant farming, and economic collapse throughout the South, the Defender campaigned for blacks to migrate from the South to the North and was highly successful, tripling the black population in Chicago and other major cities in the North and Northwest in just 3 years. What became known as the "Great Migration" was a chance for better jobs and a better way of life for African-American families. Ironically, Southern leaders were at a loss to explain why African-American families would want to leave the oppressive and feudal conditions that existed at the time.
The Defender also served as a way for Pullman Porters to keep abreast of each other, via John Winston's railroad-related social columns.
![]() "In the Railroad Center" The Chicago Defender, January 21, 1911 |
![]() "Sparks From the Rail" The Chicago Defender, June 8, 1912 |
The Chicago Defender, like most newspapers of the time, adopted the tactic of using sensationalist headlines and "yellow journalism" of the time to drive home its message. Mr. S. W. Green was in fact NOT lynched; rather, he was beaten, thrown in jail, and fined the then princely sum of $600.00 for court costs and damages.
It is measure of the mood of the times, in the era of public lynchings and Strange Fruit, that this was an entirely believable headline, and serves to underscore the tense atmosphere of violence that was a day-to-day reality for people of color.
![]() Pullman Porter Blues. More sheet music can be found here. |
![]() Pullman Porter March. More sheet music can be found here. |
Consider one such example of the casual racism portrayed in the staging of a company-wide fundraising minstrel show in 1919:
The term "Jim Crow" actually began as a song, written by Thomas 'Daddy' Rice in 1828. Rice, a struggling New York actor, became rich and famous overnight by portraying the character Jim Crow, a highly stereotyped, cruelly exaggerated African-American character. Rice is credited with originating the practice of minstrel shows, appearing with a face blackened with cork on stages across America. By 1838, the term was being used as a racial epithet for African-Americans.
Rice squandered his fortune and died in poverty in New York City in September, 1860.
![]() "Pullman Car Conductor Refuses to Jim Crow Mrs. Booker T. Washington" The Chicago Defender, April 22, 1911 |
![]() "Sues Pullman Company for Discrimination" The Chicago Defender, May 11, 1918 |
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was first organized in 1925. It was not until 12 years later that the BSCP won a collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company. The BSCP and its president, A. Philip Randolph, fought racial segregation throughout the United States and the South in particular up until the 1960s.
![]() "Tipping -- An Evil" The Chicago Defender, February 3, 1912 |
![]() "Story of Struggle of Pullman Porters" The Chicago Defender, January 5, 1929 |