rising from the rails the story of the pullman porter

Pullman understood early on that his service demanded a particular kind of individual. The sleeping car was a railway passenger car that was designed primarily for nighttime travel, with the capacity to accommodate each passenger in a bed of some sort. Thus, the sleeping car was born in the 1830s and popularized in 1865 by the Pullman Company with its luxurious Pullman sleeping car line. Pullman believed that comfort was paramount for long-distance commutes and that there should be dedicated personnel on duty to provide for the precarious needs of passengers at all hours of the day: a “hotel on wheels”. George Mortimer Pullman was an American engineer and businessman with a seemingly innocent vision for interstate railway transportation. Indeed, this is about the Pullman Porters and the laborious lifestyle that they led for the sake of political and socioeconomic development of a rising Black middle class in America. This story is no exception: the story of how corporate America exploited the predominating social mores of slavery in order to build a multimillion dollar company at the expense of Black bodies.

However, American history has long been a stubborn advocate for the status quo. The country was at yet another historical crossroads: she could either atone for her sins and begin the healing process for her long-oppressed guests of African descent or she could freshen the air of the putrid smell of the gas she had passed, so that the majority of her guests could continue to enjoy their stay undisturbed. Slavery was no longer on the social menu, but the American people could still feel the bitter aftertaste in their psychological palate. It was mid-1860s and the dust was still settling from the wreckage of the American Civil War. Pullman porter photographed at Chicago Union Station, 1943 (Source: Library of Congress) Civil Hospitality

Rising from the rails the story of the pullman porter