Article courtesy of CopyLine News Magazine Charlottesville, VA
(BlackNews.com) —On August 25th, 1925 the trajectory of African
American and American history was changed forever. On that date,
a group of Pullman porters formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters, America’s first African American labor union. One
of those porters, 99-year-old Linus Scott, described the job as
“miles of smiles, years of struggle.” This 85th anniversary
celebrates the life and work of this remarkable group of men.
The founding of the Brotherhood was an important milestone in
the labor movement, which had previously been all white. But
more importantly, it laid the foundation for the modern civil
rights movement, by proving that blacks could organize and
achieve tangible results. The Pullman porters worked on the
Pullman train sleeper cars. They greeted passengers, carried
luggage, made the beds, tidied the cars, served food and drink,
shined shoes and were available night and day to wait on the
passengers. Since they often wo