My Name's Not George Book Cover

My Name's Not George Book Cover

In his memoir, 'My Name’s Not George,' former porter and activist Stanley G. Grizzle gives his account of his time as a sleeping car porter and of the history of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). For years, Black employees couldn’t join the white railway unions, and thus working conditions remained poor (67). The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters worked for years to gain membership in the General Conference Committee (GCC), a group of 18 unions who represented railway workers. The BSCP applied in 1947 and again in 1949. They gained membership only in 1952 (81). In addition, Black men were forbidden from the better paying job of conductors: they had to remain as porters with no hope of promotion (70). Grizzle and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters worked with A. Philip Randolph, an American Civil Rights activist and the founder of the BSCP (65) to enact change. The Canada Fair Employment Practices Act of 1953 which in theory forbade discrimination in employment and unions. However, qualified Black men were still denied jobs as conductors until 1955, when three Black men, George Carraway, William Lowe, and Roy Hall, were promoted to sleeping car conductors after a lengthy legal battle (71). They were the first Black sleeping car conductors in North America (71).

Stanley G. Grizzle

Grizzle, S. G. "My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada." Umbrella Press, 1998.

Umbrella Press

1998

Umbrella Press

Book