North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955

North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955

In "Building an Empire, Uplifting a Race: Race, Uplift, and Transnational Alliances," chapter four of her book, "North of the Color Line," Dr. Saje Mathieu discusses how members of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters worked with other core groups and communities for the advancement of Black people. She states that “sleeping car porters and their wives dominated the leadership of African Canadian organizations. Twenty years of experience fighting employment displacement, immigration discrimination, and xenophobic trade unionists turned Canadian sleeping car porters into masterful political activists” (145). The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and their Ladies’ Auxiliary worked not only with the union but with various organizations for social and legal change. They worked with Black-led churches and newspapers to advocate for progress. The Black Canadian press, such as "The Dawn of Tomorrow, " became a platform to spread their goals and ideas. “Sleeping car porters—editing, owning, buying, selling, distributing, and reading black newspapers—became crucial social and political conduits because of their access and connections to that national black Canadian network” (150). There was considerable overlap in membership between the Order of Sleeping Car Porters and organizations like the Freemasons and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (p. 155-56).

Dr. Sarah-Jane Mathieu

Mathieu, Sarah-Jane. North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955. University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

The University of North Carolina Press

2010

The University of North Carolina Press

Book