Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945

Between World War I and World War II, African Americans' quest for civil rights took on a more aggressive character as a new group of black activists challenged the politics of civility traditionally embraced by old-guard leaders in favor of a more forceful protest strategy. Beth Tompkins Bates traces the rise of this new protest politics--which was grounded in making demands and backing them up with collective action--by focusing on the struggle of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) to form a union in Chicago, headquarters of the Pullman Company.

Bates shows how the BSCP overcame initial opposition from most of Chicago's black leaders by linking its union message with the broader social movement for racial equality. As members of BSCP protest networks mobilized the black community around the quest for manhood rights and economic freedom, they broke down resistance to organized labor even as they expanded the boundaries of citizenship to include equal economic opportunity. By the mid-1930s, BSCP protest networks gained platforms at the national level, fusing Brotherhood activities first with those of the National Negro Congress and later with the March on Washington Movement. Lessons learned during this era guided the next generation of activists, who carried the black freedom struggle forward after World War II.

Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945
Beth Tompkins Bates is professor emerita at Wayne State University and author of The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford.
An indispensable contribution to African American, labor, and political history, this study recasts our understanding of the history of the modern struggle for civil rights. (Eric Arnesen, author of "Brotherhoods of Color: Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality")
As Bates so eloquently demonstrates, the Pullman Porters emerged as a beacon of the black freedom movement. (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of "Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America")
Bates allows her readers to gain a thorough knowledge of the racial climate in America through her flawlessly adept book that chronicles the politics of race in black America from the New Negro Movement of the Reconstruction era through World War II. ("QBR")
This is an excellent piece of scholarship. (Tera W. Hunter, author of "To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War")
This well-documented study provides a valuable and needed reexamination of a largely underappreciated organization that helped lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. ("Choice")