Could Robert Todd Lincoln Have Done More for Pullman Car Porters and Kept His Job?
Irony of Lincoln's son heading company that exploited Black porters
Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926) was a key figure in the success of the Pullman Company, which manufactured luxury sleeping railroad cars in the 1870s through the first half of the 20th century. Lincoln’s company was accused of working Pullman porters 20 hours a day, paying them only a dollar a day or less, leading them to infamously strike. “His father freed the slaves, but Robert Lincoln treats his employees like slaves,” was a common complaint of labor leaders.
Slideshow of my visit to Hildene, including the Pullman railroad car exhibit. Click. It includes thought questions for visitors, such as “Would it be difficult for Robert Lincoln to advance equality for Pullman porters? Why or why not?”
While Abraham Lincoln is considered a secular saint who rose above his times to preserve the American Union and end the moral inequity of slavery, his son Robert was a product of his times and took the side of corporations intent on exploiting workers.
Pullman Strike of 1894
The Daily Bellringer “covers The Pullman Strike of 1894, which inspired Congress to create Labor Day. The filmmaker has included the original voice-over script to further assist your understanding: Today on The Daily Dose, The Pullman Strike of 1894.
“During the Panic of 1893, engineer industrialist George Pullman laid off hundreds of workers employed by his Pullman Sleeping Car Company, slashing wages to his remaining workforce by 30 percent. Furthering the hurt to his employees, Pullman refused to lower rents and store prices in the company town of Pullman, some fifteen miles south of downtown Chicago, obliging the entirety of his workforce to walk off their jobs in May of 1894. A month later, in a show of solidarity with Pullman workers, the American Railway Union led by labor activist Eugene Debs, boycotted any trains employing Pullman’s luxury sleeping cars. Effectively halting all rail traffic and commerce in 27 states west of Chicago, officials from the General Managers Association, which represented Chicago-based railroad companies, petitioned the federal government to shut down the strike, and while labor unions were a major constituency of the Democratic Party, to show federal support of labor unions, Democratic President Grover Cleveland encouraged Congress to pass legislation in June, making the first Monday in September the legal holiday of Labor Day. The federal government’s gesture failed to quell the violence that followed, when on June 29th, buildings and locomotives were set ablaze during a speech by Debs at Blue Island Illinois, prompting U.S. Attorney General Richard Olney to seek a federal injunction against the strike and its leadership. A day later, Cleveland ordered federal troops to Chicago, despite angry protests from Illinois’ pro-labor governor, John Peter Altgeld, who had already ordered state militia troops to control the destructive actions of striking workers. Despite the governor’s stance that Cleveland’s orders were unconstitutional, on July 6th, rioters destroyed hundreds of rail cars in South Chicago’s sprawling rail depot, leading to a July 7th bloodbath, when National guardsmen opened fire on the angry mob, killing an estimated 70 strikers, while injuring 57 others. While the strike was declared over in early August—leadings to Debs’ arrest and six-month imprisonment—the bloody struggle between labor and capital marked a period of rising public awareness of America’s labor movement, which became a foundational element of the Progressive Era, making the Pullman Strike of 1894, a major uptick in federal oversight of a nation’s economic and social equity. And there you have it, the Pullman Strike of 1894, today on The Daily Dose.
Legacy of Pullman Car Porters
Pullman Rail Cars: A Detour Back Through Time
CBS Sunday Morning: “While most journeys merely take you from Point A to Point B, one special form of train travel involves a detour back through time. Dean Reynolds takes a closer look at the famous sleeper cars in which generations past rode on trips across the country. All aboard!”