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CA-K219History

Black railway porters and their unions

The Parks Canada plaque for Railway Porters and their Unions in Montréal, photographed in 2019.
The Parks Canada plaque for Railway Porters and their Unions in Montréal, photographed in 2019. Les Porteurs ferroviaires et leurs syndicats · Jeangagnon · Photo source · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.
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From the late 1880s, Black railway porters emerged as leaders of African Canadian communities in Montréal and other cities. Through unions such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, they won recognition for Black workers in the labour movement and, after the Second World War, fought to end discrimination in railway employment.

Scope & context

The porters’ union activity and rights advocacy, not the railways’ history.

Sources behind this record

1