labor

How One Black Labor Union Changed American History

Paul Prescod Jacobin
A century ago, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters launched a union drive against a railroad giant, changing the course of the twentieth century and forever entwining the causes of labor and black civil rights.

Pullman Porter Blues

John Olson Chicago Theater Beat
Play-with-music visits three generations of a family employed as porters and sets the action on June 22, 1937 a time of celebration and great hope for African-Americans. That night, Joe Louis beat James J. Braddock for the World Heavyweight Championship in Chicago. Later that year, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters signed its first collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company, improving work place conditions and increasing wages for the porters.
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