Pullman Porters Laid the Track for a Better Life
The hospitality ambassadors were a driving force in the civil rights movement.
Sept. 18, 2008 — -- In the booming era of railroads, African-American men — many of them former slaves or the sons of slaves — were recruited for jobs as attendants on the Pullman sleeping cars. While the well-off enjoyed glamorous cross-country travel, the Pullman porters became fixtures on the trains — carrying bags, serving in the dining car and attending to passengers' needs.
But more than "hospitality ambassadors," the Pullman porters were also trailblazers laying tracks for a better life for their families and their communities, and those who followed.
Linus Scott, now 97 years young, was a Pullman porter from 1941 to 1979. For $68 a month plus tips, he made beds, waited on the passengers and always offered a smile.
"Well, I tell you, I ran into some snobs out there," Scott said. "But mostly, when I put that smile on, they responded. They responded, so we got along."
Dr. Lyn Hughes founded the Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago 12 years ago. She was so moved by the Pullman porters' stories that she decided to devote her entire life to preserving their legacy.
"They withstood verbal abuse, sometimes physical abuse," Hughes said.
"They made a difference in what they did by living an example. And so having pride in oneself and the commitment to family. And they stressed education. And the seeds they planted in their families and their descendants have gone on for generations."
Some of history's heavyweights, including Thurgood Marshall and Malcolm X, worked as Pullman porters.
"It was considered what they call a clean job. They didn't get dirty," Hughes said. "But the fact of the matter is they worked 20 hours, slept four."
The Pullman porters created the first black labor union in America, which was recognized formally in 1937. And through it, they changed the course of history by securing better wages and shorter hours. In 1941 they organized the first march on Washington to protest racial discrimination in government hiring. The march was cancelled when president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an order conceding to their demands.
More than 20 years later, the Pullman porters helped organize another march on Washington.
"They really didn't understand the significance of what they were doing and the contribution they were making, by being forerunners of the civil rights movement, and being foot soldiers on the ground to open those doors for a Dr. Martin Luther King," Hughes said.
Recently, Scott visited the Pullman porter museum with his family and his wife of 64 years, Marjorie Scott. His two daughters, Carole and Karen, also accompanied him as he walked through the history that he himself had been a part of. And then he gave a piece of it back.
The Scott family presented Hughes with the lantern that was used on the trains. Hughes was surprised and moved, and Scott acted out how the porters would stand outside a train and swing the lantern back and forth as a signal.
"I could just see him -- I could just envision him when he was working, with that spirit, dealing with whatever he had to deal with and such respect and admiration," Hughes said.
Beyond serving others and securing civil rights, the Pullman porters' influence extended to their families, too. Scott's daughter, Carole Holcomb, remembers her father coming home from the road, dancing with here and teaching her invaluable life lessons.
"It shaped my life," she said.
"They stood up for the black family. They walked proud," Holcomb added. "I think that made a great impact."
Holcomb said her dad and his counterparts had a great respect for education and knowledge. Assuring their children would go to college was a goal.
"I knew it was important for them. And I never did think that I wouldn't go," Holcomb said.
Despite Scott's low wages, he was able to put all four of his children through college, including one daughter all the way through medical school.
When Scott finally was able to take off his uniform for the last time he was "glad."
"Just [to] know I didn't have to go to work anymore — I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I knew I didn't want any other job," he said. "It grows on you — that Pullman uniform too. It did a lot for me."