[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2359-2360]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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              BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND THE PULLMAN PORTERS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this year marks the 90th anniversary of 
historian and scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson's launch of Negro History 
Week--and is the 40th anniversary of the inaugural Black History Month. 
This year, as Black History Month is coming to a close, I want to 
celebrate by paying tribute to a Chicago neighborhood that has played a 
significant part in our country's African-American and labor history--
the Pullman Historical District.
  One year ago this month, President Obama designated the South Side 
Chicago's Pullman Historic District as the Nation's 406th national 
park. The Pullman National Historical Park has a special place in our 
Nation's history. It has been the site of some major historical events. 
The men and women of the

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Pullman community--the birthplace of the Nation's first Black labor 
union--the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--helped shape our 
country as we know it today. By fighting for fair labor conditions in 
the 19th century, the Pullman workers advanced America's civil rights 
movement.
  In the 1890s, the Pullman community was the catalyst for the first 
industrywide strike during one of the worst economic depressions our 
Nation ever faced--and led to the creation of Labor Day as a national 
holiday. These railroad workers aren't always mentioned in the history 
books or picked to join the parades during Black History Month--but 
they made history and deserve to be honored. One hundred and one years 
ago, fearing that the history of African Americans was fading into 
obscurity, Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study 
of Afro-American Life and History. His goal was to raise awareness of 
African Americans' contributions to civilization. He believed that 
truth could not be denied--and realized that past contributions by 
African Americans needed to be documented and taught. He once said, 
``if a race had no recorded history, its achievements would be 
forgotten and, in time, claimed by other groups.'' I agree with Dr. 
Woodson--and so does the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in 
Chicago.
  Earlier this month, with the help of DePaul University, the A. Philip 
Randolph Pullman Porter Museum launched a new online registry that 
gives voice to the stories of Black railroad workers. By capturing 
stories from scholars and the relatives of these workers, we will 
preserve oral histories that otherwise might be lost to history. If you 
listen to the oral histories, you will hear stories from people like 
Theodore Berrien, who worked as a Pullman porter from 1940 to 1969. 
Berrien worked on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral train 
from Georgia to Washington, DC. On the registry, Berrien's grandson 
says: ``He spoke of how kind Mrs. Roosevelt was and thanked him for his 
services during the trip.''
  Or take Blaine McKinley Fitzgerald, who worked as a Pullman porter on 
the Illinois Central and Louisville and Nashville railroads from 1920 
to 1946--his relatives wrote: ``Blaine's major route was from 
Birmingham to New York. He also worked the Rose Bowl trips to 
California when Alabama was a major contingent.'' You will hear how 
Blaine raised a family of six children on his salary as a Pullman 
porter--all college educated--who became teachers, lawyers, and 
engineers. Blaine's story is just one of many examples of how the 
Pullman porters helped build the African-American middle class in 
Chicago.
  But even as the African-American middle class expanded in Chicago and 
across the country, the struggle for justice, equality, and equal 
opportunities for African Americans in this country has continued.
  And the State of Illinois has played a significant role in that 
struggle. Springfield, IL native President Abraham Lincoln led our 
Nation through a war to save the Union, abolished slavery, and began 
the work we continue today to end discrimination. In 1909, the 
centennial of Lincoln's birth, 2,000 people gathered at a dazzling gala 
to honor the centennial of Lincoln's birth. Even though this was an 
event celebrating the centennial of the President that helped abolish 
slavery--like most in America at that time, it was segregated.
  The Chicago Tribune reported, that it ``is to be a lily white affair 
from start to finish.'' But across town, the Black community organized 
its own Lincoln centennial at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 
The Reverend L.H. Magee spoke at that gathering and noted the 
widespread feeling of hurt over the exclusion of people of color from 
the main Lincoln banquet. Reverend Magee made a prediction about the 
bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009--100 years in the future: 
``prejudice shall have been banished as a myth and relegated to the 
dark days of Salem witchcraft.''
  In many ways, his prediction was correct. We have come a long way to 
banish discrimination in our communities--our legal system recognizes 
that all men and women are created equal and should be free from 
discrimination in schools, housing, and employment. And in 2009, 
President Barack Obama, a former Illinois Senator, was sworn in as the 
first African-American President of the United States of America.
  Pastor Magee had a vision of a new America, but he may not have 
imagined that bricks laid by the hands of slaves would make a home in 
our White House for a family of color. But, while progress has been 
made, we cannot ignore that we still have more to do. When one in three 
African-American men will go to prison in their lifetime, we have more 
to do. When the unemployment rate for African Americans are more than 
double the rate for Whites, we have more to do. And when efforts exist 
across the country to make it harder to vote, rather than easier, we 
have more to do. But it is when the climb is the steepest that we can 
come together as Americans, to take the mountaintop once and for all.
  This month, let's celebrate these achievements and honor Dr. Carter 
G. Woodson's legacy by remembering all the contributions of the 
extraordinary men and women of the civil rights movement--including the 
Pullman porters. We have come a long way, but we still have work to do 
to fulfill the promise to make our Nation fairer and more equal and to 
do what Lincoln called on us to do: ``nobly save . . . the last best 
hope of earth.''
  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

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