Labofest: Drama: Compared to What?-About Sleeping Car Porters

Compared To What? (A play reading) By Judith Offer
A story about the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
The job of Pullman Porter loomed large over Black American life in 1926, because it was the only job where any number of African American men without higher education could wear a tie to work, travel, and earn enough (with tips) to (modestly) support a family. They worked 18 and 20 hour days, often weeks on end; they had no paid holidays or control over scheduling; there was no route to promotion in the industry.
When A.P. Randolph and a small group of porters and ex-porters set out to form the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, they ran into the fear and reluctance of the porters to risk their comparatively superior position.
Judith Offer is one of the leading working class writers in the Bay Area. Her latest work Compared To What? focuses on the struggle of the sleeping car porters to build a union. This battle for unionization was also a battle against discrimination and segregation in the workplace and their emergence and success as a union is an important part of labor and black history in the United States. Discussion following the reading.
For further information, call Anniversary Productions at (510) 444-8521.
See also:
http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm