Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945

“Focusing much of her attention on Chicago’s black community, Bates skillfully charts how the porters' union overcame the conservative opposition of local black leaders, generated a groundswell of unprecedented community support for black unionization and, in the 1930s, pushed organized black politics in a more activist direction.” — Chicago Tribune

“[A] splendid study. . . . By skillfully placing the union efforts of anonymous railway workers in their proper place at the forefront of the 20th Century struggle for black civil rights, Beth Tompkins Bates has given us a book of inspiring vision. This is an American story worth remembering and celebrating.” — Chicago Tribune

“This well-documented study provides a valuable and needed reexamination of a largely underappreciated organization that helped lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.” — CHOICE

“Bates allows her readers to gain a thorough knowledge of the racial climate in America through her flawlessly adept book that chronicles the politics of race in black America from the New Negro Movement of the Reconstruction era through World War II. . . . Bates' book is extremely insightful in that it allows the reader to gain an understanding of how and why racial solidarity amongst African Americans came to pass at that time in particular, and how it enabled African Americans to utilize protest politics as a viable tool in our quest for freedom in America.” — QBR

“A dazzling portrait of the men and women in Chicago who directed change. . . . Bates adds several important dimensions to our understanding of the porters and their role in protest politics.” — Journal of American History

“Helps to bridge . . . the historiographies of black and working-class America. . . . This engaging, substantial volume will take its place as our most illuminating study of the BSCP to date.” — American Historical Review

“Bates illustrates much more meaningfully than any historian has yet the crucial contribution of labor to the modern civil rights movement.” — Labor History

“Simulating, solidly documented, and engagingly written. . . . [This book’s] contribution is of major importance to those working in African-American, labor, United States political, Chicago, and civil rights history.” — Journal of Illinois History

“Illuminates the network of black-community activists and organizations . . . that became the foundation stones of 'new crowd' politics. . . . Of value not only to historians but also to scholars in African-American studies and political scientists and sociologists who are interested in social movements and the dynamics of insurgent politics at the grassroots.” — Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“As 'labor/community activism' becomes the catchword of the day, Beth Tompkins Bates has given us an indispensable history lesson. She unravels the mystery of the Pullman Porters' success: the Brotherhood established deep roots in black communities, and in the process embraced a vision of struggle that extended well beyond the railroad. As Bates so eloquently demonstrates, the Pullman Porters emerged as a beacon of the black freedom movement.” — Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama’s DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America