In 1859, as the railroads were expanding their reach across America, Pullman converted passenger cars into sleepers. These comfortable, luxurious sleeping cars were an instant hit, affording wealthier passengers the amenities they were accustomed to at home and allowing middle-class travelers to enjoy a taste of the good life.
The first Pullman porter began working aboard the sleeper cars around 1867, and quickly became a fixture of the company’s sought-after traveling experience. Just as all of his specially trained conductors were white, Pullman recruited only black men, many of them from the former slave states in the South, to work as porters. Their job was to lug baggage, shine shoes, set up and clean the sleeping berths and serve passengers.
George Pullman was open about his reasons for hiring Negro porters: He reasoned that former slaves would know best how to cater to his customers’ every whim, and they would work long hours for cheap wages. He also thought that black porters (especially those with darker skin) would be more invisible to his white upper- and middle-class passengers, making it easier for them to feel comfortable during their journey.
But despite the undeniable racism behind Pullman’s employment practices, he ended up giving advantages to people who desperately needed them. In the early 1900s, a time when many other businesses wouldn’t hire African Americans, the Pullman Company became the largest single employer of black men in the country.
A Pullman porter making up an upper berth aboard the "Capitol Limited" bound for Chicago, Illinois in 1944.
Working as a Pullman porter became a coveted job, even a career, and many brothers, sons and grandsons of porters followed in their footsteps. Porters were paid more than what many other black workers made at the time, and the work was not backbreaking, when compared to field labor. More importantly, they got to travel the country, at a time when this was unthinkable for the vast majority of black Americans.
As Pullman porters became famous for their superior service, many former porters moved on to jobs at fine hotels and restaurants, and some even moved up to the White House. Porter J.W. Mays first served President William McKinley in his sleeping car; he would later spend more than four decades in the White House, serving McKinley and the eight presidents who followed him.
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