Riding the Rails: Black Railroad Workers in Canada and the United States

Riding the Rails: Black Railroad Workers in Canada and the United States

"Riding The Rails: Black Railroad Workers in Canada and the United States" was published by the Labour journal in 2002. The article discusses the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). Founded in the United States by A. Philip Randolph, the BSCP was in part created because the main railway unions would not allow Black men to join (9). “The BSCP formed part of a growing movement that rejected the moderate strategies of ‘traditional black betterment associations’ such as the NAACP and the National Urban League (NUL), in favour of a new style of politics that rested on direct, militant collective action.” (11) Much of these long-awaited changes occurred in the 1940s and 1950s, like with the Canada Fair Employment Practices Act. However, these improvements were soon followed by a decrease in demand. “Just when African Americans had won the right to move up the occupational ladder, the larger forces of deindustrialization eliminated their jobs” (13).

Eric Arnesen, Beth T. Bates, Stanley G. Grizzle, Jenny Carson.

Arnesen, Eric, et al. “Riding the Rails: Black Railroad Workers in Canada and the United States.” Labour 50 (2002): 275-95. https://www.proquest.com/docview/218797196/CB7B97A7F7CB450CPQ/14?accountid=14701&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.

Labour

2002

Labour

Journal article