The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In the early twentieth century there were few jobs available to the African-American worker. Discriminatory hiring practices were commonplace and economic struggles plagued the black community. The Pullman Company was one of the few companies willing to hire African Americans. Unfortunately the black car porters employed by the Pullman Company were subject to terrible pay and poor working conditions. Pullman’s porters, as they were called, were in no position to improve their position in the company. Workers who complained quickly lost their jobs and no organizations existed to help them. Labor unions, at the time, shunned black workers. The government offered no protection either.

In 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) became the first all black labor union. The BSCP provided much needed assistance to Pullman’s porters. Furthermore, it opened the doors for black workers and black people in general to rise up on their own abilities. The organization proved that African Americans had the ability to improve their economic conditions without dependence on others.

For the decades following the Civil War, black workers suffered at the hands of white employers with no hope for improvement. Most employers who hired black labor had ulterior motives for doing so. George Pullman’s company employed the largest black labor force in the country. His decision to hire former slaves to work as porters in his railway cars had nothing to do with social concerns. Pullman saw an opportunity to gain a cheap, submissive labor force. His strategy worked for decades. Even in the early 1900s Pullman’s porters were unable to air their complaints. Early attempts to unionize the porters were swiftly dealt with by the Pullman Company. Most porters were also fearful of losing their jobs, so they did not risk speaking out against the company.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters served a dual purpose. The porters themselves needed a mechanism to voice their concerns and fight for better overall working conditions. This was the primary function of the BSCP, but it also served a higher purpose according to A. Philip Randolph, the union’s founder and president. Randolph believed the BSCP showed African Americans that they had the power to enact change on their own. The car porters’ ability to unionize proved that a black union with black leadership could be successful.

A. Philip Randolph, despite not being a car porter, founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and remained its president for many years. Randolph was an early proponent of organizing black labor. He, like many other civil rights leaders, believed the economic wellbeing of the African-American community was closely tied to the struggle for equal civil rights. His magazine, the Messenger, often promoted the idea of blacks becoming organized. He spoke on these points to the Pullman Porters Athletic Association in 1925. Randolph convincingly discussed the need for organizing black labor, and not long after the meeting the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was formed.

Randolph remained the public face of the BSCP, but he shared his leadership role with others in the organization. The union was initially set up as a national organization headquartered in New York with local branches spread throughout the country. Randolph focused his efforts on bringing in financial support while the local union leaders dealt with recruitment efforts. Randolph depended heavily on his rhetorical skills to help publicize the union. Soon after the union’s formation, however, internal disagreements arose over Randolph’s management of the organization. Union members accused him of being all talk and no action. Randolph became increasingly reluctant to risk union members’ jobs. Eventually Randolph lost support from the BSCP leadership. Starting in 1927, the labor union went through a complete reorganization. Most of Randolph’s former power fell into the hands of a committee in charge of BSCP policy. Milton P. Webster, a union leader from Chicago, became the leading figure in determining BSCP policy. Fortunately both Webster and Randolph acknowledged the importance of the other. Webster controlled policy decisions and the day to day activity of the union, while Randolph remained the union’s national spokesman and figurehead.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters overcame some difficult years to become a long lasting example of organized black labor. The union struggled in its early years as it dealt with low numbers and increasing pressure from the Pullman Company. Pullman did everything in its power to discourage union membership. As a result, concerns about violence and job security prevented many porters from joining. It was not uncommon for union members to lose their jobs over false job infractions. Union membership dropped to its lowest during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt’s New Deal, however, brought new life to the car porters’ union. In 1934, the Amended Railway Labor Act legitimized the union’s existence. Not long after, the Pullman Company officially recognized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the union won its first collective bargaining agreement.

A. Philip Randolph’s successes with the BSCP greatly increased his stature in the black community. It allowed him to reach for higher goals in the African-American struggle for economic equality. Randolph saw the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters not only as a union of porters, but as a stepping stone toward the organization of black labor on a massive scale. To this end, he attended an American Federation of Labor (AFL) convention and demanded that the AFL leadership change their discriminatory polices. Following his demands, the AFL created an exploratory committee to examine race issues within the organization. Finally in 1936, the BSCP became the first black union to join the AFL. Randolph was determined to prove to all Americans, both black and white, that African Americans could organize themselves on a large scale.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was not simply a union of car porters. It evolved into an organization that fought for the rights of all African-American workers. Under Randolph’s guidance, the organization’s efforts to affect large scale change came to fruition. The March on Washington Movement (MOWM) was created to protest the discriminatory practices of the federal government and wartime industries. The MOWM was the next step, according to Randolph, in improving the economic standing of all African Americans. The success of the March depended heavily on the BSCP and its union members, who did most of the necessary legwork.

The March on Washington was going to serve as an example of non-violent protest. Randolph hoped to use “Gandhian tactics." He believed the use of non-violent methods in the labor struggle would be most effective. He also understood the damage that the use of violence could cause black labor. In the end no demonstrations were necessary. The threat of a large scale protest by African Americans in Washington resulted in President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802. The order outlawed discriminatory hiring practices by the government and all government related industries. This was a significant step towards economic equality in America.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters served as a positive example of a black organization choosing its own leadership. African Americans could no longer allow agenda driven white people to choose their leaders. They needed leaders who supported and understood their cause. The representative body formed by the Pullman Company was not concerned with the porters’ best interests. It had an alternate agenda. Only when the porters formed their own union and chose their own leadership did they gain the freedom to improve their economic position.

The BSCP was much more than a labor union. It was an organization that promoted the advancement of all African Americans. The union members and its leadership took an active role in the African-American struggle for economic equality. They started by proving it was possible to organize an all black labor force. They built on that success by using the threat of non-violent protests to force a major change in government policy. A. Philip Randolph’s greatest tool was his ability to inspire and convince others of his cause. He believed that organized labor, economic equality, and civil rights were dependent upon each other. The achievements of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters demonstrated those beliefs to the African-American community.