http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-pullman-porters,0,796230.story By EVELYN NIEVES | Associated Press Writer
10:32 AM EST, February 11, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In an era when America traveled by train, one of the best jobs an African-American man could land was working as a Pullman porter. It also was one of the worst.
The hours were grueling — 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The pay was poor and the work menial at best. Porters cleaned toilets, made beds and satisfied the whims of passengers who sometimes called them "boy" or worse.
Still, Pullman porters saw the country, met famous people and supported families.
On Tuesday, Amtrak honored the legacy of Pullman porters, who formed the first black labor union in the country in 1925.
"It was a wonderful life," recalled 98-year-old Lee Gibson, who traveled from Los Angeles to join four other members of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The group bashfully accepted awards at the Oakland Amtrak station, thanked their proud families and shared memories.
Similar gatherings were held in Chicago and Washington last year.
The porters were named for the sleeping-car trains invented by Chicago industrialist George Pullman. The first Pullman porters, hired after the Civil War, were former slaves.
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