Research Catalog

Title

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters collection, 1939-1987.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Dellums, C. L. (Cottrell Laurence)
• Patterson, Thomas.
• Delson, Levin and Gordon.

Description

2.3 lin. ft.

Summary

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Collection includes printed matter, correspondence, legal documents, addresses by A. Philip Randolph and other material reflecting the activities of this union. The correspondence files include outgoing letters relating to labor and union rights. There is substantial legal correspondence with the Delson, Levin and Gordon law firm (1950's-1960's), which represented the BSCP. There are also letters to and from Randolph, the international president; Benjamin F. McLaurin, international field organizer (1950's) and Eastern Zone supervisor (1960's); Thomas Patterson, who was BSCP Eastern Zone supervisor from 1951-1956; and BSCP International President C. L. Dellums (1968-1970). The correspondence often concerns the cases of individual workers, and pension and contract rights. Included are addresses and resolutions submitted by Randolph at various conventions of the BSCP. The papers also contain two union contracts between the BSCP and the Pullman Company (1953), and the BSCP and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company (1969); clippings (1960-1977); programs from events honoring the BSCP; and financial records including ledgers and financial journals.

Donor/Sponsor

Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project.

Subjects

• Railroads > Employees
• Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters > Ladies Auxiliary
• Railroads > Employees > Labor unions > United States
• Tucker, Rosina Corrothers
• African American women
• United States > Committee on Fair Employment Practice
• McLaurin, Benjamin F., 1906-1989
• Randolph, A. Philip, (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
• Trade-unions > Porters > United States
• March on Washington Movement (1943 : Washington, D.C.)
• Porters > United States
• Pullman Company
• African Americans > Employment

Source (note)

• Wilson, Joseph F.
• Joseph Wilson
• Marie H. Mosley

Biography (note)

• The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) organized railway porters (traditionally an occupation for African-Americans) to bargain with the Pullman Company which held a virtual monopoly on the nation's sleeping car facilities. The BSCP was founded in 1925 in New York City to counteract the poor wages, long hours, and other injustices practiced by the Pullman Car Company. A. Philip Randolph became president of the Brotherhood in 1928. In the mid-1930's the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the New Deal's National Mediation Board recognized the BSCP.

Processing Action (note)

• Accessioned
• Cataloged for HDI
• Cataloged
• Accessioning updated
• Cataloging updated

Call Number

Sc MG 250

OCLC

NYPW086000032-A

Title

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters collection, 1939-1987.

Biography

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) organized railway porters (traditionally an occupation for African-Americans) to bargain with the Pullman Company which held a virtual monopoly on the nation's sleeping car facilities. The BSCP was founded in 1925 in New York City to counteract the poor wages, long hours, and other injustices practiced by the Pullman Car Company. A. Philip Randolph became president of the Brotherhood in 1928. In the mid-1930's the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the New Deal's National Mediation Board recognized the BSCP.

In 1942 Randolph organized the March on Washington Movement in an attempt to force the federal government to end discrimination in war-related employment and to end segregation in the military. The march was aborted when President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which outlawed discrimination in unions and in companies doing business with the federal government and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee to oversee compliance. Although the Executive Order did not mention the military, Randolph, nonetheless, had forced the national government to admit to the existence of widespread racial discrimination in employment opportunities and to accept responsibility to provide remedies for that situation.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Added Author

Dellums, C. L. (Cottrell Laurence)

Patterson, Thomas.

Delson, Levin and Gordon.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 250