A meeting of the BSCP in an auditorium, 1927. CHM, ICHi-025673
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Established in 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first majority Black labor union in the United States. Its members were porters and maids, men and women employed by rail companies to take and move luggage, wake passengers on overnight trains, shine shoes, make up the beds, and provide other similar services. Mostly Black men and women were hired as porters and maids, as they could not get higher paying rail jobs like train conductor or engineer. The BSCP was first led by famous workers' and civil rights activist A. Phillip Randolph, with the goal to improve working conditions for porters employed by the Pullman Company. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the BSCP faced many challenges from the Pullman Company, but eventually signed a contract together in 1937, which established a large pay raise, a 240 hour work month, and guaranteed rest time during working days. The BSCP merged with other unions in the second half of the 20th Century, and still exists today as the Transportation Communications Union/IAM.
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