This 1941 photograph of the Pullman Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters comes from the Spurlock Studio Collection in the @amhistorymuseum Archives Centre. In the 1920s the Pullman Company was the largest single employer of African American men. From the 1870s through 1960s tens of thousands worked for Pullman as sleeping car porters. Working 400 hours a month, porters earned better wages than most, but in degrading conditions. The Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters was founded in 1925. Porters were often respected members of their communities, they travelled extensively and connected their communities to a wider world. From the 1920s through 1940s Porters helped Southern African Americans migrate by bringing back information on jobs and housing in the North. Porters were also involved in Civil Rights activity, Pullman porter E.D. Nixon helped plan the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott of 1955-56. Union leader A. Philip Randolph pressured President Franklin Roosevelt into issuing Executive Order 8802 in 1941. It barred discrimination in defense industries and create the Fair Employment Practices Committee. - #Pullman #pullmancompany #pullmanstandard #vintagedenim #1940s #vintageoveralls #vintageworkwear #cap hat #railroadhat #denim #denimhat #vintagebandana #vintagephoto #blackandwhitephotography #vintagestyle #vintagemenswear #ruggedstyle #rrl #formfollowsfunction https://www.instagram.com/p/B4noagiJD5Y/?igshid=p20poeftmml9
