Pullman Porters: 20,000 Black Men Work 400 Hours/Month as Invisible Service Workers

The Pullman Company was the largest single employer of Black workers in the United States by the early twentieth century, employing approximately 20,000 porters. Porters worked brutal schedules — 400 hours or 11,000 miles per month — for wages supplemented by tips. They were called 'George' by white passengers regardless of their names, required to smile through humiliation, and subject to fines for any passenger complaint. Despite these conditions, the position was among the best available to Black men in a segregated economy. A. Philip Randolph would organize them into the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925.