Top 10 Examples of Racism in History of the American Labor Movement

9. Pullman Strike of 1984

In 1894, when white workers of American Rail Union (ARU) went on strike against the Pullman Company, their African-American co-workers were not allowed participate. This was due to the fact that the organizing union was for whites only.

In an Op-Ed for The Grio, Theodore Johnson explained the Pullman Strike this way.

 “This strike did not include porters or conductors on trains, but for the black porters, racism fueled part of the workers’ dissatisfaction, and was never addressed. Pullman porters were black men who worked in the trains’ cars attending to their mostly white passengers, performing such tasks as shining shoes, carrying bags, and janitorial services. During this period, this profession was the largest employer of blacks in the nation and constituted a significant portion of the Pullman company’s workforce, yet blacks were not allowed to join the railroad worker’s union.

Being excluded from the right to even fight for fair work and wages, the Pullman porters formed their own union called the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters, the first black union.”