Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class

Product Description

"A valuable window into a long-underreported dimension of African American history."―Newsday

When George Pullman began recruiting Southern blacks as porters in his luxurious new sleeping cars, the former slaves suffering under Jim Crow laws found his offer of a steady job and worldly experience irresistible. They quickly signed up to serve as maid, waiter, concierge, nanny, and occasionally doctor and undertaker to cars full of white passengers, making the Pullman Company the largest employer of African Americans in the country by the 1920s.

Drawing on extensive interviews with dozens of porters and their descendants, Larry Tye reconstructs the complicated world of the Pullman porter and the vital cultural, political, and economic roles they played as forerunners of the modern black middle class. Rising from the Rails provides a lively and enlightening look at this important social phenomenon.

• Named a Recommended Book by The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Seattle Times

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

*If this is not the "Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link.  Details were last updated on Dec 22, 2024 18:11 +08.