The Pullman Company established its sleeper cars as a unique and luxurious way to travel, complete with the carefully trained African-American men, typically former slaves, hired to be porters. Pullman Porters quickly became a staple of the Pullman Sleeping Car experience, often fighting to maintain a balance between good relations with the Pullman company and protesting for better conditions and wages. Pullman Porters are often attributed to helping create a black middle class in the United States, with their employees forming the first all-black union, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.