Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records 1920-1968 (bulk 1950-1968)

ArchivalResource

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records 1920-1968 (bulk 1950-1968)

1920-1968 (bulk 1950-1968)

Part I consists of general correspondence, subject files, and personal papers of the brotherhood's founder, A. Philip Randolph, documenting the growth and functions of the union. The Subject File contains a large quantity of material on the growth and functions of the union from 1940 to 1968 and includes agreements reached between the brotherhood and the nation's major railroad lines. Included also is material exchanged between the local unions and the brotherhood's headquarters, as well as files relating to biennial conventions, financial matters, and the ladies auxiliary. There are no records relating to Randolph's creation of the union in 1925 or to the brotherhood's subsequent struggles for existence while organizing various union locals. Part II consists of correspondence and subject files of brotherhood officials Benjamin F. McLaurin (international field organizer), A. Philip Randolph (founder and president), and Ashley L. Totten (secretary-treasurer), and other subject files, financial records, and miscellaneous records. The Subject File in Part II contains additional agreements between the brotherhood and the railroad companies, but most of the files concern the participation of the union in railway and labor organizations. The most informative material relating to the organizing activities of the union can be found in the files pertaining to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. These activities were carried out under the auspices of the Provisional Committee To Organize Colored Locomotive Firemen. The records document the struggles of African-American firemen to retain their jobs and seniority rights with the railroad companies while seeking to be represented by a labor union. Briefs of legal cases brought by the brotherhood on behalf of the African-American firemen are also included in the files. Some of the material in the files relating to Canada also touches on the organizing activities of the brotherhood.

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Related Entities

There are 43 Entities related to this resource.

Quill, Mike

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kq0qkn (person)

Mboya, Tom

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66w9v46 (person)

Kenyan trade union and political leader; minister for economic planning and development, 1965-1969. From the description of Tom Mboya papers, 1950-1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 123429940 ...

Young, Whitney M. Whitney M. Young papers.

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Sociologist. Whitney Moore Young, Jr. (1921-1971) was Executive Director of the National Urban League, 1961-1971. From the description of Papers, 1960-1977. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122443095 ...

Stone, Chuck

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Charles Sumner Stone, Jr., is a political writer, analyst, commentator, and Walter Spearman Professor of Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From the description of Chuck Stone papers, 1931-2007 and undated. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 166275182 ...

Dellums, C. L. (Cottrell Laurence)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w40616 (person)

Blanchette, A. R. 1910-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63b8nj8 (person)

Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fp2049 (person)

Bayard Rustin (b. March 17, 1912, West Chester, Pennsylvania–d. August 24, 1987, Manhattan, New York) was an African-American Quaker who was concerned with nonviolence, socialism, civil rights, race relations, and international relations. He was connected with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, American Friends Service Committee, War Resisters League, Congress of Racial Equality, and Committee for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience against Military Segregation. He was imprisoned during World War II fo...

Farmer, James Leonard, Jr., 1920-1999

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6039jfq (person)

Civil rights leader, author, labor organizer, and teacher, James Leonard Farmer, Jr. was born on January 12, 1920, in Marshall, Texas. He earned degrees from Wiley College (1938) and the Howard University School of Divinity (1940). Farmer went on to found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) which played a key role in the Civil Rights movement, particularly in launching the Freedom Rides in the summer of 1961. These bus rides tested the federal interstate transportation accommodations at bus t...

Congress of Industrial Organizations

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Brotherhood of sleeping car porters

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nh5hcx (person)

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) organized railway porters (traditionally an occupation for African-Americans) to bargain with the Pullman Company which held a virtual monopoly on the nation's sleeping car facilities. The BSCP was founded in 1925 in New York City to counteract the poor wages, long hours, and other injustices practiced by the Pullman Car Company. A. Philip Randolph became president of the Brotherhood in 1928. In the mid-1930's the American Federation of...

Randolph, A. Philip, 1889-1979

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jj4bwm (person)

Asa Philip Randolph (born April 15, 1889, Cresent City, Florida-died May 16, 1979, New York City), African-American labor leader and early civil rights spokesman. Influenced by the socialism of Eugene Debs, Randolph began publishing his magazine The Messenger in 1917. He opposed U.S. entry into the first World War. In 1925 he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. His associations with Bayard Rustin and James Farmer influenced his dedication to nonviolence. Randolph was a founder of ...

Reuther, Victor G. (Victor George), 1912-2004

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cd1r8f (person)

Victor George Reuther (January 1, 1912 – June 3, 2004) was a prominent international labor organizer. He was one of three Reuther brothers (Walter and Roy) who were lifelong members of the U.S. labor movement. His older brother Walter became the president of the United Auto Workers union (UAW) and Victor became the head of that union's Education Dept. and an organizer on the international level. He was a proponent of social democracy. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Anna (S...

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 1908-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b960dp (person)

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was a Baptist pastor and an American politician, who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was the first African-American to be elected from New York to Congress. Re-elected for nearly three decades, Powell became a powerful national politician of the Democratic Party, and served as a national spokesman on civil rights and social issues. He also urg...

Meany, George, 1894-1980

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Labor official; interviewee d.1980. From the description of Reminiscences of George Meany : oral history, 1957. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122587289 President, AFL-CIO, 1955-1980. George Meany (1894-1980) was elected president of the American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) in 1952. His efforts to unite his organization with its rival, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), was successful, and he was ...

Wilkins, Roy, 1901-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s46r5z (person)

Civil rights leader and journalist; d. 1981. From the description of Papers, 1915-1980. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 31605113 Roy Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota. Wilkins edited the KANSAS CITY CALL, a Black newspaper, from 1923 to 1931. Wilkins became Assistant Secretary of the NAACP in 1931 and became Executive Secretary in 1955. Under his leadership the NAACP grew to 350,000 members. ...

White, Walter Francis, 1893-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m61pnn (person)

Executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the description of Correspondence with Johan Thorsten Sellin, 1935. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 243854199 Walter Francis White (1893-1955), was an African American civil rights activist and leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1931-1955. Walter White married Leah Gladys Powell (1893-1979) in 1922, and they ...

Young, Whitney M.

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National Sharecroppers' Fund (U.S.)

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Mboya, Tom

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b59dzk (person)

Unknown. From the guide to the Letters from Tom Mboya to James Johnson M.P. (microfilm), 1957, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House) Biographical Note 1930 Born, Kenya 1950s Works for Nairobi City Council as a sanitary inspector ...

Webster, Milton P., 1887-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6036p5n (person)

Milton Price Webster joined the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) in 1925 and soon became A. Philip Randolph's major ally. He was the first vice-president of the BSCP and chief negotiator of contracts. Together with Randolph, Webster led the BSCP to victory in 1935 following a protracted campaign to make the union the bargaining representative for black porters and maids. The BSCP was the first African-American union to win a national contract as well as the first to have a bargaining a...

Murray, Philip, 1886-1952

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h4j3b (person)

Philip Murray was one of the most important American labor leaders of the twentieth century. As president of the Steelworkers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), he played a pivotal role in the creation of industrial unions as well as the utilization of federal government support in the growth of unions in the United States. Philip Murray (May 25, 1886-November 9, 1952) was born in Blantyre, Scotland, on May ...

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968

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Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. January 15, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia –d. April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to M...

McNeal, T. D.

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Randolph, Woodruff, 1892-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k09n8z (person)

Totten, Ashley, 1884-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r3fzd (person)

Quill, Mike, 1905-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jf72hg (person)

Much of the Transport Workers of America’s (TWU) history centers around the fiery figure of Mike Quill, President of the TWU from 1935 to 1966. Quill, born in Kilgarven, Ireland in 1905, started with the IRT subway as a ticket taker. With the financial support of the Communist Party, Quill, together with Maurice Forge, Austin Hogan, and Harry Sacher, was able to lead a successful organizing drive among New York City transit workers beginning in 1934. With Quill as President, the TWU...

New York (N.Y.). City Council

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Stanley M. Isaacs served as a Council member for Manhattan from around 1954 to 1958. From the description of Records pertaining to automobile accident compensation plans, 1957-1959. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122484686 The New York City Council has the power to adopt local laws and reviews the service goals, performance and management of City agencies. In addition to its legislative role and oversight powers over City agencies, the Council approves the City'...

McLaurin, Benjamin F., 1905-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tm95cw (person)

Labor organizer. From the description of Reminiscences of Benjamin F. McLaurin : oral history, 1960. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309734723 Former Eastern Zone Supervisor of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and chairman of the Administrative Committee of the National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission. From the description of Benjamin F. McLaurin papers, 1922-1975. (Unknown). WorldCat record i...

American Federation of Labor

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67697mf (corporateBody)

Labor organization. From the description of American Federation of Labor records, 1883-1925. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70980267 ...

Stone, Chuck

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dg8tt3 (person)

1924 July 21 Born in St. Louis, Mo. to Charles Sumner and Madalene Martha (Chafin) Stone 1942 1943 Attended Springfield College 1943 Drafted, commissioned as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps ...

Reuther, Roy, 1909-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64192fg (person)

Labor leader, of Detroit, Mich. From the description of Papers, 1924-1971. (Wayne State University). WorldCat record id: 28421189 Labor leader. From the description of Oral history interview with Roy Reuther 1966. (Wayne State University, Archives of Labor & Urban). WorldCat record id: 32321363 ...

Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z64grr (corporateBody)

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, founded in 1863, recognized the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in 1874. The combined Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (BLF & E) represented a wide spectrum of railroad occupations in labor negotiations. In 1969, it merged with other industry unions to form the United Transportation Union. From the description of Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen journals, 1874-1968 (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). ...

Spingarn, Arthur B. (Arthur Barnett), 1878-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xs69qj (person)

African American lawyer, scholar, and president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the description of Papers, 1914-1971. (Moorland-Spingarn Resource Center). WorldCat record id: 70941351 Spingarn was born on Mar. 28, 1878 in New York City; AB (1897), AM (1899), and LL. B (1900), Columbia Univ.; LL. D, Howard Univ., 1941; L.H.D., Long Island Univ., 1966; practiced law beginning in 1900; chairman of national legal committee, and vice-presid...

Rauh, Joseph L., 1911-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t43rd8 (person)

Lawyer. From the description of Reminiscences of Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. : oral history, 1967. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122480930 Labor lawyer. From the description of Reminiscences of Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. : oral history, 1988. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122513744 Lawyer, civil rights activist, and civil libertarian of Washington, D.C. Born Joseph Louis Rauh, Jr. Died 1992. ...

Reuther, Walter, 1907-1970

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64f1rdd (person)

Green, William, 1870-1952

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t43tkb (person)

Ohio district president of the United Mine Workers of America; Democratic senator in Ohio General Assembly; AFL president. From the description of William Green papers [microform], 1891-1952. (Ohio Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 45840057 ...

Bond, Horace Julian, 1940-2015

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jv0dh3 (person)

Civil rights activist, state representative, and state senator Julian Bond was born on January 14, 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee. He and his family moved to Pennsylvania, where his father, Horace Mann Bond, was appointed president of Lincoln University.In 1957, Julian Bond graduated from the George School, a Quaker school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and entered Morehouse College. In 1960, Julian Bond was one of several hundred students who helped form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commit...

National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor (U.S.)

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Dellums, C. L. (Cotrell Lawrence)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q361j7 (person)

Smith, Bennie, 1884-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66m5wcg (person)

Blanchette, A. R. (Arthur Robinson), 1910-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r61s4d (person)

McKissick, Floyd B. (Floyd Bixler), 1922-1991

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q43tf (person)

Floyd B. McKissick (1922-1991) was born in Asheville, N.C. He was an attorney, businessman, and civil rights leader. McKissick married Evelyn Williams, with whom he had four children: Joycelyn; Andree; Floyd, Jr.; and Charmaine. From the description of Floyd B. McKissick papers, 1940s-1980s. WorldCat record id: 39668375 Floyd B. McKissick (1922-1991), the son of Ernest Boyce and Magnolia Thompson McKissick, was born in Asheville, N.C., on 9 March 1922. He earned...

Dubinsky, David, 1892-1982

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cf9qd6 (person)

"Permanent deposit" From the description of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. David Dubinsky, Memorabilia. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 64059271 1892 Born February 22nd in Brest-Litovsk, then in Russia, son of Bezalel and Shaina (Malka) Dobnievsky. Moved to Lodz, where the family operated a bakery. ...