Chicago's Pullman porters formed first all-Black labor union 100 years ago

CHICAGO - As we celebrate Black History Month this year, a major milestone is also being marked.

One hundred years ago, Chicago's Pullman porters who worked on the historic railway here helped form the first all-Black labor union in the U.S.

In a FOX 32 special report, we take a look at how this move not only improved workers' rights but also their civil rights.

After the Civil War, George Pullman wanted to hire formerly enslaved men to work on his trains as sleeping car porters. Some historians say that created economic advancement for newly emancipated African Americans and helped create the Black middle class.

Despite those benefits, sleeping car porters did not have the best working conditions.

"They worked extreme hours. Didn’t get much pay, worked primarily for tips," said Dr. Lionel Kimble Jr. "Had to buy their own uniforms. Had to buy their own shoeshine. Any materials they needed for work, they had to purchase themselves."

Dr. Lionel Kimble Jr. is an associate professor of Africana Studies at Chicago State University. He's also on the executive council for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

"In New York City and Harlem, one of the hubs for the brotherhood, there were a number of meetings going on talking about organizing," Kimble Jr. said. "But the problem they found… is spies for the Pullman company were often infiltrating some of these meetings."

The porters who wanted to unionize needed a leader Pullman couldn’t intimidate and still had some charisma.

"In comes A. Phillip Randolph," Kimble Jr. said.

Kimble says Randolph was a newspaperman from New York who bought a one-way ticket to Chicago to see if the union could get started.

"He comes here and he meets with this guy, Milton P. Webster, who was a big, booming, very large man, very domineering, but very respected in the ranks of the Pullman porters," Kimble Jr. said. "The belief was Randolph comes to Chicago and if he was able to appeal to Webster then he would win the respect of the Pullman porters nationwide."

Why couldn’t Randolph do that with the porters in New York City?

"The seed of equality was planted in Chicago. Chicago is founded by DuSable," said Dr. Kim L. Dulaney, VP of Education and Programs at DuSable Black History Museum. "So if you look across America, people are coming to Chicago, DuSable land – Black land – a Black man founded it. If we can’t get equality there, we can’t get equality anywhere."

After Randolph and Webster meet, the rest – as they say – is history; starting with Randolph becoming the first international president for the union and Webster the international vice president.

"If it wasn’t for A. Phillip Randolph and Pullman porters, there wouldn’t be E.D. Nixon," Kimble Jr. said.

"This is such a great story because E.D. Nixon was not somebody who would have got big recognition. He wasn’t well educated. Even for the day," Dulaney said.

Dulaney told us more about the Pullman porter in Montgomery, Alabama, who was mentored by A. Philip Randolph.

"Not only did he bond Rosa Parks out of jail, but he also connected other organizations and mobilized people in that effort," Dulaney said.

That’s not all he did during the Montgomery bus boycott.

"Nixon was the person who invited a 26-year-old minister from Atlanta to lead the movement in Montgomery," Kimble Jr. said.

Kimble says if it wasn’t for E.D. Nixon, we might not have had a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"So looking at this movement in 1925 and what it provided for us up to 1963, is something we don’t pay enough attention to," Kimble Jr. said. "Because I think it’s a very important part of the Black civil rights struggle."

One more historical note to share: when Dr. King gave his now famous "I Have a Dream" speech, he was introduced by A. Phillip Randolph.