Growing up on 47th Street and Evans Avenue, about four blocks away from train tracks, Eugene Bowser saw the railroad men and though it seemed like a “good job.” After graduating from Englewood High School, he went to Sidney Mitchell’s office t
A few months later, he tried again. Again, he was sent home. He let a little bit of time go by once more. This time, he was turned downûsort of. The third time was a charm. Mitchell, the superintendent of the Pullman Company Chicago district, said, “I’ve got a surprise for you. You’re going to like what I have to say.
I’m going to hire you. If you have the nerve to come here three times, that means you want to work,” according to 92 year-old Bowser who was 24 years old when he was hired. He was repeatedly turned down because in order to get hired, you had to have a relative as a current or former employee that would vouch for you.
Bowser did not, he said. When he finally came aboard and completed his six-month probation, he vowed to get his two brothers as well. The older brother was based in St. Louis and the younger brother was stationed in Indiana, both are now deceased. Bowser was one of the more than 20,000 Black men who served on the Pullman cars in the early 20th century.
The Pullman Porters assembled railroad and sleeping cars that bore the company’s name, Pullman cars, from the 1800s until the 20th century. The company closed in the 1960s. It has been many decades since the Auburn-Gresham resident served as a club car attendant on the world famous Pullman Palace cars that traveled the nation, but he vividly remembered the difficult time he had getting hired for the job that paid about $35 a month.
Bowser spent more than 20 years traveling the nation before retiring and going into law enforcement. He was one of five railroad men, including three Pullman porters, from the Midwest who were recently recognized during National Train Day at Union Station. The A. Philip Randolph Museum of Chicago and Amtrak feted Bowser, Linus Scott of Gary, Ind. and William Turner of Cincinnati at a daylong ceremony aboard a vintage railroad car that was manufactured by Pullman porters.
Scott, 97, started his Pullman career when he was 34 years old and would travel for months at a time before returning home to spend time with his family. He enjoyed his time on the road and only missed work for nearly one month due to gallbladder surgery. Cincinnati-based Turner, 92, was a day car porter that traveled to every state except Alaska.
All three men are among fewer than 100 living Pullman porters nationally, said Lyn Hughes, founder and director of the A. Philip Randolph Museum. Hughes said, those thousands of Black men took what was considered a menial job and developed a standard for excellence “They took pride in their job. That is what is missing today.
I take advantage of every opportunity to tell their story,” said Hugh, who also wrote Anthology of Respect: The Pullman Porters National Historic Registry of African American Railroad Employees.
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