Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Founded in 1925, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids, commonly referred to as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters^[1] (BSCP), was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The BSCP gathered a membership of 18,000 passenger railway workers across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.^[2]

Beginning after the American Civil War, the job of Pullman porter had become an important means of work by African-Americans.^[2] The leaders of the BSCP—including A. Philip Randolph, its founder and first president,^[3] Milton Webster, vice president and lead negotiator, and C. L. Dellums,^[4] vice president and second president—became leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, especially concerning fair employment^[5] and continued to play a significant role in the movement after it focused on the eradication of segregation in the Southern United States. BSCP members such as E. D. Nixon were among the leadership of local desegregation movements by virtue of their organizing experience, constant movement between communities, and freedom from economic dependence on local authorities.

As a result of a decline in railway transportation in the 1960s, BSCP membership declined. It merged in 1978 with the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks (BRAC), now known as the Transportation Communications International Union.^[2]

^ White, Deborah Gray; Bay, Mia; Martin Jr., Waldo E. (2021). Freedom on My Mind, A History of African Americans with Documents (3rd ed.). Boston | New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 466. ISBN 978-1-319-21015-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chateauvert, Melinda (2016-06-28). "Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters". Oxford Bibliographies. doi:10.1093/obo/9780190280024-0011.
^ "A. Philip Randolph | American civil-rights activist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
^ "C.L. Dellums, 89; Led Rail Porters Union". The New York Times. 9 December 1989.
^ Reich, Steven (2013). A Working People: A History of African American Workers Since Emancipation. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4422-0332-7.

[1] White, Deborah Gray; Bay, Mia; Martin Jr., Waldo E. (2021). Freedom on My Mind, A History of African Americans with Documents (3rd ed.). Boston | New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 466. ISBN 978-1-319-21015-1.

[:2-2] Chateauvert, Melinda (2016-06-28). "Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters". Oxford Bibliographies. doi:10.1093/obo/9780190280024-0011.

[3] "A. Philip Randolph | American civil-rights activist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-05-01.

[4] "C.L. Dellums, 89; Led Rail Porters Union". The New York Times. 9 December 1989.

[:0-5] Reich, Steven (2013). A Working People: A History of African American Workers Since Emancipation. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4422-0332-7.

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