The Pullman Porter the Vanguard of the Black Middle Class

While it might be difficult for us to imagine today, at one time the job of Pullman Porter was very highly prized and carried with it a quite a bit of status in the Black community.

In order to get a taste of the social history of a Pullman porter

listen to the attached NPR broadcast titled

'Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters'

by journalist Larry Tye. Tye says that the job was one of the best for African Americans at the time, and that it was a foothold in the American workplace.

An interview with a former Pullman porter.

Former porter Frank Rollins 93 years young.

A Phillip Randolph Museum of Pullman Porters