PVLD Adult Services Blog

The planners of National Train Day– May 9^th– are searching for surviving Pullman porters, who will be honored at a celebration in Philadelphia.  By the late 1920s, 20,000 African American men served luxury train travelers as porters.

Porters influenced the civil rights movement by forming the first black labor union.  The men in effect birthed the black middle class, helping their children and grandchildren improve their economic standing.

Library Resources: Pullman porters, Railroads in U.S. history