Recommended film: 10,000 Black Men Named George

During the Great Depression, jobs were scarce for working class people, especially African-American workers. Working as a porter for the Pullman Rail Company was one option that came with compounded pay discrimination as darker complexion employees took home a third as much pay as their lighter complexioned counterparts and sometimes made to work for no pay. They were also denied their humanity and individuality; all black porters were simply called “George” after George Pullman, the creator of the Pullman sleeping car.

This film is the true story of Asa Philip Randolph, a journalist fighting to give a voice to these forgotten workers who together carried the effort to organize and form the first recognized African-American worker’s union in the U.S.

“We showed 10,000 Black Men Named George about A. Philip Randolph organizing the Pullman Porters, and our audience drew their own conclusion—the working class Irish, Italians, Jews, Chinese and more have all been in the same struggle as the laboring class African-Americans against exploiters/capitalists all along! Rememory works.”

—Organizers in Western Massachusetts