In 2016, former Pullman porter Benjamin Gaines, who worked on the railroads from 1945 to 1954, spoke about his job from his Evanston home.
"The porters, believe it or not, we had a celebrity status," Gaines told the Tribune. "We were upper-class because it was a prestigious job."
For some porters - who worked on the palace cars starting in the very early years of the Pullman company - the job was their first after the end of slavery. There was a certain exctement, not to mention pride, that came from working on the palace cars.
As black men with freedom of movement at a time when freedom was restricted for many other black Americans, porters clandestuinely carried copies of black newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, on the palace cars to distribute along their routes.
--RoadDog
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