The Sophisticate Chronicles

Labor Day was founded after the Pullman Strike of 1894, when President Cleveland was hoping to gain political allyship by honoring railroad workers. However, the story about the involvement of the Black Pullman porters in the labor movement is not always told. “Pullman porters were black men who worked in the train cars attending to their mostly white passengers, performing such tasks as shining shoes, carrying bags, and janitorial services. During this period, this profession was the largest employer of blacks in the nation and constituted a significant portion of the Pullman company’s workforce…” -Theodore R. Johnson Despite Black porters being a significant part of the Pullman’s workforce, they were not allowed to strike and were also denied access to the labor union. This led Black railroad workers to form their own union, the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters, which was the first Black union in America. A. Philip Randolph was the first president of the union, and he was also

What a time it has been. These last 8 years have been nothing short of change. When collectively we came together as one and focused on what was not best for "I" but what was best for "US".  "US" meaning "We the people". (LoL!! I can hear my friend John right now starting one of his many rants with those particular words.) I watched a clip of local retired Minister/Civil Rights Activist Paul McDaniel last night on our local news station. He spoke about being  a young man and attending Morehouse College with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  While highlighting all the phenomenal things that Rev. McDaniel has done, the one thing that stuck out the most for me is when he stated that he wishes Dr. King could have seen all the work that he had done was not in vain. The main statement that struck a cord was "Now no one would look at a black child and laugh because they said they wanted to be President of the United States." I