“I feel oh, so blue
I really don’t know what to do
I got a brand new job: a tip collector
It’s some job: a car protector” – Pullman Porter Blues (Clifford Ulrich & Burton Hamilton) © Leo Feist, Inc.
On June 29, 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lee Wesley Gibson, a resident of Los Angeles, had “died as he lived – calm, quiet and in control – sitting in a chair at home . . . with family members at his side”. He was 106 years old. What caught my attention in this article was that it was believed that Mr. Gibson was the oldest surviving Pullman porter.
Lee Gibson was born in Keatchie, Louisiana in 1910; married Beatrice Woods – his wife of 76 years – in 1927; and in 1935, during the height of the Great Depression, moved his family to Los Angeles, in search of greater opportunities.
In 1936, a deacon at Gibson’s church who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a coach attendant asked his wife Beatrice if her husband would be interested in a job with the railroad. In a 2010 interview with the Times on the occasion of his 100th birthday, Mr. Gibson recalled that this was a golden opportunity.
Mr. Gibson began working for the Union Pacific as a coach attendant, later being promoted to Pullman porter. Porters were the uniformed railway men serving the first-class passengers who travelled in the Pullman Company’s luxurious sleeping cars. It was a sought after position, allowing a certain amount of prestige for African Americans that was difficult to find in other vocations. Having steady work, Mr. Gibson was able to buy a brand-new home for his family in 1945; a home in which he lived until his death.
“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, draft on my feet’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, turn on the heat’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’, all the live long day
‘Pullman Porter, bring me water’, that’s all they say
“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, make up my berth’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’, no peace on Earth
‘Oh, Pullman Porter, won’t you shine my shoes’
I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)
George Pullman founded the Pullman Car Company in 1862. It is said that after spending a night sleeping upright in his seat during a train trip through New York, Mr. Pullman had the idea to design a rail car that contained sleeper berths for every passenger. Although the first cars manufactured included somewhat spartan sleeping arrangements, within a short period of time the company was turning out luxury sleeping cars which featured carpeting, draperies, upholstered chairs, libraries, and card tables. Besides the unparalleled quality of the Pullman car’s accommodations, they became known for the impeccable service provided by the company’s staff of Pullman Porters.
The Pullman Car Company not only built the eponymous rail cars, they also owned & operated them along the nation’s railways. Soon after the American Civil War, George Pullman began seeking out former slaves to staff his sleeping cars. Aware that most Americans did not have servants in their homes, Pullman understood that by allowing passengers to be served by a liveried waiter or butler, he could provide the growing middle class with something they had never before experienced.
In the mid 1920s, during its peak of operations, the Pullman Company’s fleet grew to number 9,800 sleeping cars, staffed by 12,000 porters. A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up the sleeping berths, serve food and drinks brought from the dining car, send & receive telegrams, shine shoes, provide valet service, and keep the cars neat and orderly.
A porter was expected to be available both day & night. The job could be demeaning, and many were subjected to discrimination and abuse. Early on many porters were obligated to answer to the name “George”, as if they were George Pullman’s personal servant; a practice that grew out of slaves often being named after their owner.
Although wages were low, in an era with limited opportunities for African American men, being a Pullman porter was one of the best jobs available. Not being offered a livable wage, porters relied heavily on the tips that they received from passengers. Walter Biggs, son of a Pullman porter, shared memories of being a Pullman porter as told to him by his father:
“One of the most remarkable stories I liked hearing about was how when Jackie Gleason would ride … all the porters wanted to be on that run. The reason why? Not only because he gave every porter $100.00, but it was just the fun, the excitement, the respect that he gave the porters. Instead of their names being George, he called everybody by their first name. He always had like a piano in the car and they sang and danced and had a great time. He was just a fun person to be around.”
In an effort to improve working conditions and wages, A. Philip Randolph began organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. Under Randolph’s leadership, the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was formed. These unionizing efforts were also crucial in laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement, as labor organizer and former Pullman porter E. D. Nixon was instrumental in organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama in 1955, and was also responsible for bailing Rosa Parks out of jail when she refused to give up her seat on the bus.
“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, turn on the light’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, get me a bite’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’ all the whole night thru
It seems to me I’m always wrong, whatever I do
“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, what town are we at?’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, brush off my hat’
‘Now look here, Porter, someone stole my booze’
I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)
The Pullman Company would eventually become the largest single employer of blacks in America. Many people credit porters as being significant contributors to the development of America’s black middle class. Black historian and civil-rights activist Timuel Black observed in a 2013 interview:
“[The Pullman porters] were good looking, clean and immaculate in their dress. Their style was quite manly; their language was carefully crafted, so that they had a sense of intelligence about them. They were good role models for young men. . . . [B]eing a Pullman porter was a prestigious position because it offered a steady income and an opportunity to travel across the country, which was rare for blacks at that time.”
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters 
Pullman Porters
Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago, which celebrates the contribution of African Americans to the nation’s labor history, states, “For African Americans, it was a middle-class job. It represented a sort of freedom, flexibility and education all in one bundle.”
Thurgood Marshall 
Willie Brown 
Malcolm X
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a former porter himself, was also a descendant of a Pullman porter, as was former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Malcolm X and photojournalist Gordon Parks were both employed as porters.
“I make their berths up, give ‘em sheets
And put ‘em all to bed
And when they’re feeling bad
Get Bromo Seltzer for their head
“I get’em soap, I get ‘em towels
And even comb their hair
Say, when it comes to giving service
Boss, I am a bear” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)
Lee Gibson worked on the railroad for 38 yrs. When the Pullman Co. ceased operation of sleeping cars in 1968, Pullman porters were transferred to Union Pacific, and later Amtrak. He retired from the railroad in 1974. In his LA Times interview of
Duke Ellington 
Cab Calloway 
Louis Armstrong
“He (Armstrong) played Vegas and would catch my train from Vegas many times,” Gibson said. “He was quite interesting.”
Although porters sometimes had to endure humiliation and racism, Gibson says he was always treated with respect; said Gibson of his career serving others on the railroad, “It was hard, but it was fun.”
“I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_porter
All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.
