Tens of thousands of African-Americans worked as porters on the trains, attending to the needs of first-class passengers in Pullman sleeper cars since 1868. Amtrak estimates that 200 former porters are still living and plans to honor about 20 of them Saturday in Philadelphia as part of National Train Day.
Frank Rollins, 93, is coming from Houston to take part in the celebration. The retired restaurant owner and jeweler worked on the rails from 1936 to 1945, first as a cook with the Illinois Central Railroad and later as a porter.
Although they earned little, Pullman porters helped build America's black middle class. Racism wasn't uncommon, with passengers often calling them "George," for George Pullman, inventor of the sleeper car, regardless of their first names.
Rollins tells NPR's Michele Norris that the railway wanted Southern boys to run the dining cars because "they thought they had a certain personality and a certain demeanor that satisfied the Southern passengers better than the boys who came from Chicago."
During the rigorous training to become a porter, Rollins says he learned how to make up the beds in the train cars and break them down — and how to deal with discrimination.
