Story of sleeping car porters demonstrates racist past

With our daily diet of “fake” news from Donald Trump’s America, Canadians could be forgiven for feeling smug. And there is much to be thankful for. Even so, it is important to remind ourselves that progress has not been easy.

For much of the 20th century, black Montrealers never knew if they would be served going into a bar, restaurant, cinema, or store. Proprietors had the right to serve whoever they wished. There were cases of black tourists being refused hotel accommodation during Expo 67.

Until the 1950s, most black men in the city worked for the railway companies as sleeping car porters, red caps and some categories of dining car employees. Only black men were hired for these positions. Sleeping car porters had a tough job. They worked long hours and got little sleep. Porters were expected to be courteous, even when confronted with everyday racism. Black railway workers might have had the worst paid jobs on the railway, but they enjoyed high status within their community. Porters were often highly educated. They were also well- travelled. Mobility had its advantages, contributing to the rising political awareness of the problems facing black people across North America.

Sleeping car porters, and their wives, helped found virtually every major black community institution in Montreal before 1950. The local branch of the Universal

Negro Improvement Association ( UNIA), founded in 1919, was likewise formed by porters. At first, black porters got no help from established trade unions. Instead, white railway unions excluded blacks from membership. White supremacy was the rule. In response, black porters formed their own union, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, a century ago this year, in 1917. This was the first large black union in North America.

Black trade unionists faced fierce opposition from the railways, which preferred their porters cheap and docile. While the union managed to establish itself on the Grand Trunk/ Canadian National Railways, the anti- union Canadian Pacific Railway promptly fired the black organizers.

The Order applied to Canada’s Trades and Labour Congress for a charter. Its application, however, was referred to the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees, my father’s union, which had jurisdiction.

The first try failed in 1918, but a subsequent vote succeeded.

After years of struggle, black railway workers finally defeated race segregation on Canada’s passenger trains in the 1960s.

It didn’t just happen. Nor was it given to them. Then, as now, unions can make a difference.