San Antonio College Library

In telling the story of the organizing of the first black trade union - The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters - this program provides an account of African-American working life between the Civil War and World War II. Narrator Rosina Tucker, a 100-year-old union organizer and porter's widow, describes how after a long struggle led by A. Philip Randolph, the porters won the first contract ever negotiated with black workers. The film describes the...

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first national trade union for African Americans. Standard BSCP histories focus on the men who built the union: few acknowledge the important role of the Ladies' Auxiliary in shaping public debates over black manhood and unionization, setting political agendas for the black community, and crafting effective strategies to win racial and economic justice. In this first book-length history of the women...

Although somewhat overshadowed by giants such as W.E.B. Dubois and Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph is one of the most important figures in the Black struggle for civil and human rights during the 20th century. Includes Randolph's role in the trade union and Civil Rights movements, showing how his work in organizing for and leading the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--the country's first all-Black union--laid crucial groundwork for the victories...