The Hours of Service are Barbarously Long: Pullman Porters vs Santa Fe Railroad

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by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Aarchivist/Curator

On July 28, 2001, Ed Rawlins, a man thought to be the oldest porter in Newton, Ks, died. His death marked the end of an era in Newton’s railroad history. For forty years, 1934-1974, he worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a porter. A job that he quietly did day after day, along with many other black men, with no hope of advancement. Rawlins was also part of a landmark Civil Rights case to fight this discrimination.

The Hours of Service are Barbarously Long”

Railroad porter was a profession of status in the black community and a ubiquitous part of traveling on the railroad for about 100 years. Following the Civil War, traveling on the railroad gained in popularity and people began to demand services. Like Fred Harvey with his Harvey Girls and Harvey Houses, where excellence was demanded, George Pullman pioneered excellent service in the luxurious sleeper cars. These “palace cars” included everything one could find in a good hotel – comfortable beds, air conditioning, and even chandeliers. Gourmet meals were served and travelers were pampered. Pullman needed one more thing, people willing to provide the service and do sometimes menial work without complaint.

Pullman discovered the perfect work force to maintain this elegance – ex-slaves.  Although the job was held in high regard in the black community, in reality the Pullman porter was one of the most exploited jobs in the country in the mid-20th century.  Porters worked very long hours for low pay and performed tasks that most unskilled white workers would not.

Porters were expected to be at the beck and call of the passengers. They often worked 20-hour shifts with only three to four hours of sleep in between. There was also a certain amount of unpaid prep work they were expected to complete. One observer noted that “the hours of service are barbarously long.” (Berman) In addition, they paid for their own food and supplied their own uniforms.

A survey conducted March 1934-February 1935, illustrated the poor pay. Those conducting the study discovered that the annual income of all porters in the survey was $880. The weekly income was $16.02. In comparison, the average weekly wage of all workers in manufacturing industries in the US in 1934 was $19.12, with wages reaching $23.19 in New York. (Berman)

In a particularly demeaning twist, porters were often addressed as “George,” and not their real names, reflecting their employers first name. A practice begun during slavery when slaves were known by the first name of their owner. (5 Things)

There were positives to the job. Porters traveled all over the U.S. They learned to know wealthy, influential people and what was going on in the larger world. They brought this information home with them to share in their churches and communities.

At its peak, the Pullman Company was the largest single employer of black men in the United States — employing 20,000. (5 things)

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In 1925, with the help of a prominent labor rights advocate, A. Philip Randolph, the porters were able to begin the process of unionizing. There was resistance from the Pullman Company and even black community members, but they persisted. After a decade, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was established becoming “the first African-American labor union to successfully broker a collective bargaining agreement with a major corporation.” (5 Things)

The Pullman porters in the 1920s laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement by forming the first black labor union. In the 1960s, the union gave leadership, money and venues to the civil rights movement and the struggle of the porters for equal opportunities. (Seeking)

By the 1960s one thing was glaringly evident, even though they were qualified, black porters were never promoted to better positions.

“I was qualified to do the work. They just didn’t let me do it.”

Joe Sears was a quiet, mild-mannered man who faithfully and diligently worked for the Santa Fe. He had started his career with the Santa Fe in 1936 at the lowest level of employment – the chair-car attendant. He was promoted to porter. He took the necessary classes and passed tests required for a promotion to brakeman in 1936 hoping to move to a better paying position. Over the years, Sears learned every job on the train and often trained those who became porters, brakemen, firemen, conductors and engineers. He applied for promotions to brakeman over the years but was always refused. He was told “You can’t become a brakeman until your skin changes color.” (Roe)

In August 1965, Sears returned home from his normal Chicago-to-Kansas City run and was watching TV when news of the Watts Riots broke. Sears later recalled that he “knew those people on that TV screen. He shared their years of being invisible and beaten down. He shared their anger.” He continued, “I leaped up otta my chair – I’ll never forget it – I said, ‘If I was there, I’d burn some of ’em too!'” Sears recalled his frustration at never getting a promotion, noting “his bosses refused to promote him, ‘They never argued about the fact that I was qualified to do the work. They just didn’t let me do it, that’s all.'” (Roe)

“Charging racial discrimination”

The next morning, he again applied for the brakeman’s job and was denied. The age limit was 35, he was 53. Sears also had learned about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made discrimination against the law and people were encouraged to report it. On March 8, 1966, Joe Sears drove to Topeka to the Commission on Civil Rights and filed a complaint against Santa Fe and the United Transportation Union and began a 27 yearlong battle for compensation. (Roe)

October 7, 1972, Sears was notified by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that he was entitled to sue the railroad and the union under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. On November 1, 1972, lawyer Terry Paup filed suit in the US District Court Wichita to stop AT&SF and the United Transportation Union from discriminating against blacks and to collect damages. A class action lawsuit on behalf of Sears and 72 other black porters employed by Santa Fe Railroad was filed.

On August 25, 1975, Joe Sears, the last Santa Fe porter, retired. Sears had worked for the Santa Fe for 39 years. He never received a promotion. His fight with the Santa Fe was not over.

On December 1, 1982, Sears and “all other persons similarly situated” won their case. The decision was then appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in March 1984.

Finally, in December 1993, 27 years after the first filing, the Sears and 273 other men received their money. The court awarded $24.5 million to 273 current and former railroad employees. Seventy-three were former train porters and 200 former chair-car attendants.  They successfully sued their employer, Santa Fe Railway and the United Transportation Union, “charging racial discrimination and seeking damages commensurate with the wages they lost by being barred from white-only jobs.” (Roe)

Among the seventy-three porters were three men from Newton, Ed Rawlins, Baylon Thaw, Sr, and Ray Wagner.

Newton Men

 

Edward W. “Ed” Rawlins

Ed Rawlins was born in Hutchinson on April 16, 1909, and attended grade school at Sterling. After graduating from Sterling High School in 1929, he attended Pittsburg State University studying business. He also learned the craft of upholstery and refinishing furniture. He married Mary M. Landrum in February 1935.  They were married for 66 years. In his adult life, he attended Halls Chapel AME Church in Newton, Ks and at the time of his death, he was the oldest member. Rawlins was active in the church at all levels serving as trustee, lay president, and singing in the choir. He was also active in the community as a member of the Rising Sun Masonic Lodge, No 27 and working as a Newton Police Reserve for many years. He worked for the Santa Fe for 40 years as a porter with no chance of advancement. Rawlins was awarded $123,031.57 with interest earned from 1982-1984 the total amount $140255.99.

Rawlins died on July 28, 2001.

Baylon Kirkpatrick Thaw Sr.

Baylon Thaw was born April 10, 1916, to Harry and Georganna White Thaw. His siblings included Booker T., Jack A., Harold A., and Georganna C. Thaw Gray. His half siblings included Omine and William Beard. He grew up in Harvey County and married Monterie L. (Cox) Thaw. They had one son, Baylon Thaw, Jr. In 1950, the Thaw family moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. Thaw worked for the Interstate Transportation Railroad Station as a porter. He died 7 September 1972. In 1993, his portion of the settlement was $131,162.64 with interest the total came to $149,252.41.

Ray Wagner

Ray Wagner was born June 3, 1893. He was awarded $33,931.31 with interest $38,681.69.  (Lewis to Byrd) Wagner died in April 1981.

Sources

John S. Faulkner – A Tombstone and a Question

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by Kristine Schmucker, Archivist/Curator

Earlier this week, Wendy Nugent, reporter for the Harvey County Now, sent me a message asking if I knew anything about a man named Scott Owens. His tombstone in Greenwood needed repair and she was doing a story on it with Sylvia Kelly. Turns out, there was an interesting story about a Harvey County family.

Photo Courtesy Wendy Nugent, Harvey County Now.

The first thing to clear up was the mystery of his name. In the Greenwood Cemetery register he is listed under the name of Scott Owen Faulkner. Other Faulkners listed include Laura and Charles. How did these people fit together? Or did they?

One document from 1901 lists a Scott Owens, born in Kentucky living in Newton. The document is a muster roll and he is listed as entering the army May 5, 1864 as a private Co. D 15th U.S, Col Inft, and discharged in August under General Order. The year of discharge is difficult to read. It might be 1865?

Muster Roll ending December 1902. Courtesy Sylvia Kelly

To add to the confusion, his daughter lists his name as Scott Faulkner on the order form for the tombstone and lists the discharge date as December 28, 1891.

Tombstone Application for Headstone or Marker. Courtesy Sylvia Kelly.

The obituary for the man that died on June 6, 1935 is identified as John S. Faulkner or John Scott Faulkner, even though the Greenwood Register lists Scott Owen Faulkner. It seems that Scott Owen Faulkner is the same person as John S. Faulkner. When and why did he change his name? Who was Scott Owen Faulkner?

There is no listing or census record for a Scott Owen Faulkner living in Harvey County, Kansas. There is however, plenty of evidence of a John Scott Faulkner living in Newton.

Pioneer Resident

According to the Newton city directories and the census, a man by the name of John Faulkner had been living in Newton for sure since 1885. The obituary for John S. Faulkner noted that he had been a resident of Harvey County for 55 years, so he likely arrived in 1880. It is possible he came, along with his wife and young daughter, with a larger group that included Katie and Wilson Vance, Willis and Emily Brooks, Frank C. Childs, Madison Thomas and Abe Weston.

J.S. Faulkner was born in 1849 in Virginia very close to the Kentucky boarder. He enlisted in the Civil War in May 1864. He married Laura Yancey February 6, 1872 at Trenton, Todd County, Kentucky.

“Kentucky County Marriages, 1797-1954” Family Search.org

The couple came to Newton around 1880 with 4 year old Mary. Their next child, Charles, was born in Kansas in 1881. Johanna was born in 1884.  In the Newton city directories for 1885 and 1887, John is listed living at 129 S 2nd with the occupation of mason.  By 1911, the Faulkner family is living on W 1st and in 1917 the address of 912 W 1st is given.

“Colored Civil War Veteran”

Further clues come from his and Laura’s obituaries.

John’s obituary noted that with his passing “only five comrades who saw service in the war between the states remain in Newton.” He is likely one of the unidentified Black men in this photograph taken in front of the Harvey County Courthouse.

Faulkner was described as “a stout patriot, devoted churchman,” and seems to have led a quiet life. His name does not appear in the Evening Kansan Republican except for Laura’s obituary and his own.

Laura Yancy Faulkner was born in 1856 in Kentucky, probably Todd County. After her marriage she is a quiet presence. For some reason, her name is not listed as a wife of John’s in the city directories until 1917 although the census’ clearly have her living with him. She died at her home at 912 W 1st on June 25, 1930, from pneumonia. She had been ill for some time.

John died five years later also in the month of June on June 6, 1935. He was survived by his three children Mary Faulkner Garth of the home; Josephine Faulkner Baldwin, Chicago; and Charles Faulkner, Newton; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His services were held at the C.M. E. Church in Newton with Rev. C.V. Williams officiating and the Women’s Relief Corp assisting.

Faulkner Children

Son, Charles, worked as a porter and baggaman for the AT&SF. He and his wife, Georgia, also lived at 912 W 1st until the 1930s when they are listed at 119 Elm. Charles died August 13, 1937, at the age of 57.

In 1941, daughter, Josephine* Baldwin ordered a headstone for her father from the government to be delivered to her sister, Mary Faulkner Garth, who was living at 402 Highland, Newton.  Up to that point his grave may have been unmarked and as a veteran he was entitled to a headstone. This is the headstone that Sylvia Kelly hopes to repair.

*All other sources refer to her as Johanna or Joanna.

Additional Note:

During this same time period, there was a white Faulkner family, J.M. and Laura Faulkner.  They lived at 325 W 8th, Newton and had at least two children, Olin and Fern. J.M. Faulkner worked for a time as an assistant Marshall and their names appear frequently in the Evening Kansan Republican. They left Newton at some point  and are not buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Thank you

to Sylvia Kelly for calling attention to John Scott Faulkner’s tombstone and to Wendy Nugent for being curious. Nugent’s article, “Kelly Wants To Straighten Out History” is in the Harvey County Now August 21, 2023 issue.

Sources

  • Evening Kansan Republican: 7 June 1935
  • Newton City Directories: 1885, 1887, 1902, 1905,1911, 1913, 1917, 1919, 1931, 1934, 1938.
  • Kansas Census: 1895
  • U.S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
  • Greenwood Cemetery Register of Burials, Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives, 203 N. Main, Newton, Ks.

 

An Ordinary, Amazing Woman: Mary Rickman Anderson Grant

Posted on by hchm-curator
Originally published on January 31, 2013, on BlogSpot –An Ordinary, Amazing Woman: Mary Rickman Anderson Grant

by Kristine Schmucker, Curator

“Mrs. Mary O. Grant, colored, aged 95, one of the oldest residents in this county died Tuesday night at 11:30 . . . “
 At the time of her death in 1923, Mary Rickman Anderson Grant was among the last of the first settlers of Harvey County, but her name never appeared in any of the old settler lists. She is not pictured in the Kansan 25th Anniversary Edition printed in August 1922, a year before her death.  Her story, and that of her pioneer family, remained alive through oral tradition within the larger Rickman/Anderson/McWorter/Clark  families.
Mary Rickman Anderson Grant
Harvey County Pioneer
Photo courtesy Jullian Wall

Mary’s story starts in Sparta, White Co., Tennessee where she was born April 1835.  Her father’s name was Nathanial Rickman and her mother’s name may have been Sophia.  In the 1860 Census, Mary is listed as the head of household with four children, Joseph, America, Lucy and Tennessee.  At some point she met and married David Anderson and moved to Ohio.  David Anderson served in the Civil War in Co I 14th Reg. U.S.C.T., which was the same regiment as Mary’s brother Joseph Rickman.  Perhaps he introduced Anderson to his sister and they got married.  By 1870, the entire Anderson family was living in Clemont County, Ohio with David listed as head of the household with three more children, James Wayman, Thomas Jefferson, and Nathanial.  A daughter, Carrie, is born later that year.

Homesteading on the Prairie

In 1871, the Anderson family decided to move to Kansas. Like many black families they saw the opportunity to own land. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a citizen to file “first papers,” pay a $10 fee and claim 160 acres of land in the public domain.  The Anderson family left all that they knew and traveled by covered wagon to Emporia, Kansas for a chance to own their own land. From Emporia, they traveled to Florence, Kansas, where the family stayed in a dugout while David Anderson went to the homestead site in Pleasant Township, Harvey County.  Here he began building a new home but met with misfortune almost immediately.  One of the horses died, leaving only one older horse for the difficult work of breaking the prairie sod.  Anderson decided to trade the horse for a pair of oxen and continued to work on improving the claim.

David M. Anderson
Mary’s 1st husband
Photo courtesy Jullian Wall

Anderson filed for a homestead in Harvey County, Pleasant Township, Section 26, but he did not live to see the fruits of his efforts.  David died on April 3, 1872, leaving Mary with eight children on the prairie.  He was buried on the homestead.

1885 Atlas
Pleasant Township, Harvey County
Mary was determined to keep the homestead. Other members of the family helped her complete a sod house.  For the first several years, Mary lived in the small soddy with her eight children, four boys, and four girls.  The boys “slept in swinging beds hung from the cellar rafters so that they would be protected from snakes and insects.”  Wildlife of all types, from wolves and coyotes to buffalo would come within a short distance of the house. Fuel was scarce, so like other homesteaders, the Anderson family relied on cow-chips and corn stalks for cooking and heating.  From the homestead it was an all-day trip to Peabody, the site of the nearest mill for the Anderson family.  The older boys would take a sack of corn and go by horse to the mill where the corn could be ground into cornmeal.

Death from accident or illness was a constant threat to the new settlers.  In 1872, Mary’s daughter, America Turner died.  Three granddaughters, Estelle & Linnie (1879) and Alta (1881) also died and were buried in the family plot on the homestead.

Challenges on the Prairie
An early challenge that faced the Anderson family was a winged creature known as the Rocky Mountain Locust. August 7, 1874 no doubt started out like any other day for the Anderson family.  Perhaps Mary was up early making breakfast when she noticed that the sky seemed to be darkening.  At first, she may have thought the low, dark gray cloud “being blown swiftly from the northwest” was a rainstorm.  It was soon apparent that this was something else entirely.  Billions of grasshoppers had arrived in “swarms so large they blocked out the sun.”  For three days the locusts, only 1.25-1.4 inches long, whirred and chewed their way across Harvey County.  In their wake, total destruction.

“At the end of that time every stalk of corn and garden and every vestige of vegetation that was green enough for them to eat simply was not.  It did not exist.  All paint and even the old black boards and logs were eaten until they looked like new lumber.” 

(Anderson,Rickman, & Rossiter Family Reunion Picnic, by Marguerite Huffman, ca. 1981)

 

Minnesota locusts of the 1870s
http://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/minnesota-locusts-1870s
This species was not a grasshopper, rather a Rocky Mountain Locust which went extinct around 1902.
See also http://www.hcn.org/issues/243/13695

The Anderson family confronted another challenge of the prairie.  In 1876, a prairie fire broke out near Whitewater, south and east of the Anderson claim.  Soon the flames were sweeping across Harvey County in a ten mile wide swath.  A neighbor  lost his barn and 20 head of cattle.  Young Jefferson Anderson was home alone at the time.  He did the only things he could think of – he turned the oxen loose and chased them to the creek.  Amazingly, the house was spared.  The main loss was of a pig pen and a stable.

Orison Grant
Wearing his Civil War Uniform
Mary’s 2nd husband
Photo Courtesy Jullian Wall

Forty-six year old Mary Anderson married Orison Grant, a Civil War veteran, in September 1878.  A Justice of the Peace performed the ceremony.  Grant  was 61 at the time according the marriage license.

Grant had also come to Kansas in search of land to call his own.  He settled on a claim in Highland Township in 1871.  After their marriage, the Grants sold the Highland claim in two parts; the first in 1885 for $1350 and the second in 1886 for $2000.

1885 Atlas
Highland Township, Harvey County

In 1889, Mary made the final $8.00 payment on her homestead in Pleasant Township – the farm was officially hers.

Orison Grant died February 3, 1893.  His obituary noted that “people that knew him intimately dubbed him ‘General’ which title always pleased him.  He was respected by all who knew him.” (Newton Kansan, 3 February 1893, p.3)

Keeping the family together

Mary stayed on the homestead until 1910.  At that time she sold the farm for $8,500.  Family was important to Mary and  it was important to her that the family stayed together.    When she moved to Newton, she had the six members of the family who had been buried in the family plot on the farm moved to Greenwood Cemetery, Newton.

For the next thirteen years Mary lived with her daughter, Lucy Rickman Mayfield at 330 E. 6th, Newton.  Mary Grant, Harvey County pioneer, died August 1, 1923 at the Mayfield home.

Mary Rickman Anderson Grant and Lucy Rickman Mayfield

During the month of  February, in honor of  Black History Month, we will be featuring related stories from Harvey County. Much of the information on the Rickman/Anderson/Grant family is based on oral traditions preserved by Marguerite Rickman Huffman & June Rossiter Thaw and research by Karen Wall.  We are grateful for their willingness to share the stories of this Harvey County family. 

Sources

  • Anderson,Rickman, & Rossiter Family Reunion Picnic,” by Marguerite Huffman, ca. 1981 in Harvey County Residents Box 1B, Rickman/Anderson File Folder 35)
  • Evening Kansas Republican, 1 August 1923, p. 5.
  • Newton Kansan, 3 February 1893, p.3
  • Karen Wall, Find-A-Grave, “Mary Rickman Anderson Grant.”

Visit http://hchm.org/ for more information on the Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives.