THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS

But these were white unions, and blacks generally were not welcome. So in 1912 black rail workers also began to organize, establishing the Association of Colored Railway Trainmen and Locomotive Firemen and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Two decades later the Protective Order of Dining-Car Waiters and Porters was formed, with headquarters in Omaha and the rest of the country broken into five districts. The union established the Denver district, Local 465, in 1934. The railroad companies, which were never partial to unions of any ilk, were particularly hostile to black unions and refused to even recognize the Protective Order as bargaining for its members.

To help bolster their efforts, A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, brought his message to Denver during the Thirties, speaking from the pulpit of the Zion Baptist Church. Whenever he could, Pullman porter Charles L. Cousins went to listen, taking along his teenaged son Charles R., better known as Charlie.

end of part 1