Thomas Tramble - The Pullman Porters and West Oakland

The American railroad story touches many things good and bad about commercial control of the distribution of wealth in this country. Most significant was the completion of the great transcontinental railroad. With this achievement came increased communication; travel; business; and a new style of life for men, who only four years earlier had been slaves in a degrading agricultural setting in the South. Men, who had only four years earlier spent their intellectual pursuits creating new ways to resist the slavery system and relocate their families in lands free of oppression, were suddenly qualified for a job offered by a railroad system. African American slaves worked from sunup to sundown for meager clothing allowances for their families.

On the basis of having served as slaves, they were qualified for a job offered by the Pullman Palace Sleeping Car Company. The sleeper cars were railway carriages with marble bathtubs, gold-filled plumbing, cedar wardrobes, jewelry safes, swimming pools, and brass-railed observation platforms.

George Pullman had found the perfect match for his company. This also marked the beginning of the struggle for the average African American family to achieve the American dream. He decided to lease the cars complete with operating personnel and maintenance responsibility. Pullman cars could be seen in many of the various train companies.

The story is one about struggle, lost battles, and finally victory led by A. Phillip Randolph and Oaklander C. L. Dellums in unionizing wars. The story is about the Pullman Strike in 1894, led by Eugene Debs. The story is about the formation of fraternal groups, combating the African American spies of the Pullman Company, African American Women clubs, social orders, and church organizations.

The story is about great Oakland women: Hettie Blonde Tilghman, Mrs. Willie Henry, Frances Mary Albrier, Delilah Beasley, Melba Stafford, Mrs. Fred Williams, and Ida Louise Jackson. The story is of the heroic C. L. Dellums, Oaklands great civil rights warrior.

The story includes little known facts about African American occupations in Oakland, including personal servants for wealthy households, hotel waiters, railroad porters, messengers, cooks, and janitors. African Americans were entrepreneurs who operated barbershops, restaurants, and boardinghouses. Oakland men and women organized fraternal organizations, social clubs, newspapers, and literary societies and were coachmen, butlers, and cooks.

The story is of African American men and women building a community at the railroad terminus called West Oakland. The Pullman porters influence provided a springboard for men from a slavery heritage to hold elite positions as doctors, lawyers, newspaper editors, civil servants, ministers, and schoolteachers.

C. L. Dellums left his birthplace of Corsican, Texas, because I dont plan to wear these overalls for the rest of my life. He became vice president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union, in charge of the West Coast activities.

Oakland was a transportation hub as the western terminus of the transcontinental railroad. The Porters found Oaklands climate, and its social and economic opportunities, attractive to raising healthy families.

The Pullman Company leased their cars and porters to railroad companies throughout the United States and Canada. (Simmons Collection.)

The Pullman Company operated the largest hotel outfit in the United States, accommodating up to 100,000 sleeping travelers each night. Pictured is a postcard of the Capitol Limited crossing the Potomac River. (Simmons Collection.)

Here a group of porters stand at attention in the dining car before patrons arrive. All porters completed three days of unpaid training in the Art of Portering, a rigorous course designed to instill the highest standards of cleanliness and personal service.

Porters are seen here sharing a toast with a passenger, ever careful of spies and spotters. Spotters were special agents who reported shortcomings such as dirty bathrooms, missing towels, dust on the sill, unanswered call bells, knocking down fares, or failing to write up food orders.