News and Announcements

National Park Service Has An Interest In
Pullman And The Black Labor History Story

In January 2012, former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. held a press conference in Chicago where he announced that he was planning to sponsor Bill H.R. 3894. The Bill would start the process that of initiating a study that will determine the feasibility of making the community of Pullman, where we are located, a National Park Service site. How exciting is that! For the Black Labor history component of American history, to have prominence in the larger Pullman story is very rewarding. I say that because that would mean that we would no longer have to shoulder the primary responsibility of keeping the museum and its story alive, the way we have for 18 years, with very little assistance.  At a certain point in the near future, we may need you to contact your elected officials and ask them to join our elected officials to help push in Washington. We will keep you informed.

PREVIOUS PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Upcoming events include Art Exhibitions of descendants as well as humanities lectures and performances.

LECTURES AND FILM SERIES

August 2015

FOCUS ON THE ARTS

We took a more in depth look into the lives of the descendants of African American Railroad Employees, by shining a light on various individuals. This will begin with our highlighting the Arts.

UPCOMING EVENTS FEATURE

DESCENDANTS ART EXHIBITIONS

Robert West (Grandson Of Pullman Porter)
Date to Be Announced

Robert West is America’s newest railroad illustrator. West is consistently on the road giving one-man art shows at railroad related events all over the country. In addition he gives lectures, slide presentations, as well as continues ongoing research to keep a visual record of the fast disappearing contemporary North American Railroad scene. It is in this capacity that he functions as a visual historian, bringing back memories to those, his age and older, while educating those his age and younger!

The Herbert Gentry Exhibit – 2015

(The Son of a Pullman Porter)

Artist Herbert Gentry made vibrant expressionist paintings of figures and faces, mixing global influences and African American experience. Referring to his childhood during the Harlem Renaissance, Gentry asserted “Harlem prepared me for Paris.” After completing military service in World War II, Herb Gentry returned to Paris for art school and found himself in the heart of the expatriate American community in Montparnasse. Gentry moved to Scandinavia in 1959, but always kept a studio in Paris. In 1969, he returned to New York and became a resident of the famous Chelsea Hotel. At home on both continents, Herbert Gentry resided, painted and exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic. His work is represented in important national and international museum collections.

HUMANITIES LECTURE/RE-ENACTMENT
JOSEPH TRIMBLE – October 2015
(Grandson of a Pullman Porter)

Joseph D. Trimble is a native of Chicago, Illinois currently living in Montgomery, Alabama. He is the son of a Pullman Porter who worked for the Pullman Company over thirty years. Trimble has had an interest in the Pullman Porter story ever since he accompanied his father on train rides to the South to visit his grandparents in Alabama when he was only five years old. Inspired by the late great storyteller and Journalist Kathryn Tucker Windham Trimble was encouraged to not only study history but to tell the stories from history that would educate, inspire and inform the listening public.

“My goal through historical storytelling is to identify events, people, or organization throughout history that have made a profound impact. There is no better story than that of the Pullman Porters. Through my twenty one years in the military, as I have traveled all over the country, I have heard the inspiring, educational and often entertaining stories of the Pullman Porters and how they overcame their obstacles and paved the way for people like the Tuskegee Airmen and General Colin Powell. These are the stories I seek to tell to encourage the current generation to read and achieve.

We are Reinstating the National Advisory Council!

We have great news! We are reestablishing the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum’s (APRPPM) National advisory board. Previously members of the APRPPM’s NAC joined us from varied sectors such as: Labor, cultural organization, business and public office from around the country. During its existence the NAB was a very effective vehicle for the museum. The NAC provided critical strategic direction for the museum that enabled the museum to operate productively and most important, helped it to maintain a bottom line in the black. There was much creativity and wisdom in their direction.  Past membership was composed of esteemed individuals such as

Carol Adams Ph.D.
Secretary
Illinois Department Health and
Human Services –
Now President of DuSable Museum

Elnora D. Daniel Ed.D.
President
Chicago State University
Cliff Kelley

Radio Talk Show Host
WVON Radio Chicago

Russell Lewis
Andrew Mellon Scholar and
Curator
Chicago Historical Society

Paula Robinson
National Board of Advisors
National Trust for Historic Preservation

Dr. Hycel B. Taylor
Author & Senior Pastor
Pilgrim Baptist Church
Chicago, IL

Carl Westmoreland
Senior Researcher
National Underground
Railroad Freedom Center

We are close to announcing a new Chairman of our new National Advisory Council

(IN FORMATION) and their plans for building its new membership . We hope that the new council look and become as effective as the old one which is listed above.

….Stay Tuned

The Inaugural
“Black Railroad Employees Descendants” Convention

We are very excited about our activity. The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum concluded our yearlong celebration of the founding of the first black labor union chartered with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) with the first-ever descendants convention. Descendants of the historic group of African Americans railroad employees (that include Pullman Porters, Dining Car Waiters and others) will gather in Chicago for this historic event.

Working with the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau and drawn from APRPPM’s data base of nearly 4,000, descendants representing 48 US States will be invited to a weekend of fellowship, discussions, entertainment workshops. The men and women who changed and claimed a better life for their descendants will be recognized for their heroism.