Service Not Servitude

This Anthology of Respect and the Pullman Porter’s National Historic Registry is a reminder of a living legacy and a clarion call to continue what A. Philip Randolph and the Brotherhood defined as the unfinished task of emancipation.

Lyn Hughes, the founder-director of Chicago’s A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, knows this story as well as anyone, and she reminds us with this publication, of the labor milestone that helped create the new world of Black and White America.

Lerone Bennett, Jr.

July 2007

Pullman Porters known as the Ambassadors of Service transformed early train travel into the Golden Age of Rail, while the Brotherhood became the foundation for Americas’ first black labor union.

Anthology of Respect, with more than 3000 entries captures their real sentiments, Stories, and family remembrances that give voice to what was an often unseen and unheard force that created the Black Labor Movement in America. The five years invested in this research was time well spent. I believe this registry will become an invaluable resource. There are numerous collections of data on these men however; I believe this is the first attempt to assemble and present data of this type in a user-friendly manner

Great idea and long overdue!

Paula Robinson

Illinois Advisor National Board Of Advisors

National Trust For Historic Preservation

This is a wonderful collection that speaks poignantly and passionately about the lives and the legacy of the Pullman Porters. A group of men who fought discrimination by unionization, whose exploits will be better remembered because of this publication.

Lonnie Bunch, Director

National Museum of African American History and Culture

This important anthology and registry pays tribute to a group of African American men who ‘hid behind the mask’ but were important contributors to their communities, their families and generations who followed them.

Dr. Spencer Crew President

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center