They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters

by Cecil Foster

A CBC BOOKS MUST-READ NONFICTION BOOK FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Nominated for the Toronto Book Award

Smartly dressed and smiling, Canada’s black train porters were a familiar sight to the average passenger—yet their minority status rendered them politically invisible, second-class in the social imagination that determined who was and who was not considered Canadian. Subjected to grueling shifts and unreasonable standards—a passenger missing his stop was a dismissible offense—the so-called Pullmen of the country’s rail lines were denied secure positions and prohibited from bringing their families to Canada, and it was their struggle against the racist Dominion that laid the groundwork for the multicultural nation we know today. Drawing on the experiences of these influential black Canadians, Cecil Foster’s They Call Me George demonstrates the power of individuals and minority groups in the fight for social justice and shows how a country can change for the better.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada, Audiobook, Book Club, Race, Politics

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2019

Reviews

[MargaretDH]

I'd like to have a chat with the publisher about this book. I don't think the title or marketing accurately depict this book at all. So, through no fault of the author's, I was disappointed about what I got here.

While this book does indeed talk about the Black train porters of Canada, it's not just about them. It's about the development of Canadian immigration policy, changing labour policy and practice and cultural shifts around people of colour, mostly specifically black people. Foster uses the Black train porters as a jumping off point to show the difficulty of immigrating to Canada while Black, even for Black British citizens, and the struggle of Black people in Canada to gain meaningful employment outside of their own communities. Fosters follows the long advocacy required to highlight the inequities engrained in Canadian policy and culture, and the racism that underlay the exclusion of Black people.

Foster is a journalist and novelist, not an historian. My favourite parts of this, and what I wished there was more of, was Foster's oral history work with the surviving porters. Foster did a wonderful job of eliciting the stories of these men who crossed the country, and who did the important work of creating, joining and reforming unions so that they and their fellows might have more fairness in their work and careers. I also liked his explorations of the community members and advocates that did so much of the important work.

Unfortunately, the train porters disappeared entirely from the frame for much of the middle of the book as Foster delves into the broader history of Canada and the British Empire. I wish the book had been better framed, right from the title and cover on.

[Horus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and informative look at both the history of race relations in Canada (and not from a white perspective) as well as the significance of train porters in both the changing of that history and labour relations. We have a far more complicated history than most of us were ever taught in school and I think this should be required reading for most of us.

[Ian M. Pyatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have read more reviews and the summary; I was hoping for more "actual" stories from the black porters and from the limited number there were; and not so much history (horrid as it was). I saw Mr. Foster at a Wordfest event here in Calgary and he was engaging, another reason I read the book was I took the train from Ottawa to Jasper and slept in a berth so the stories about the turn-down service, etc, brought back memories & when I took this trip back in 1977, Winnipeg was also the city where the crew changed for the remaining leg of the journey.

[Norman Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea so many issues were involved in Canada's race struggle. Human Rights was not the only battlefield. There was also immigration, workplace practices, and political manipulation.
I did not realize that the decline in passenger rail services may have been influenced by changes in employment practice. I can see a similar degradation of air travel amenities.
This isn't just a race problem. It's a labor problem as well.
That said, Canada today owes a great deal to the black train porters!

[Bibi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's title sums up the approx 295 pages in just one line. It was a necessary story to be told and there were many interesting elements along the way; however, by the latter half, it dragged on.

What this book revealed is that in the early days of this fledging nation, Canada was not intended to be a multi-cultural society. The train porters fought an uphill battle and should be credited for their perseverance first to change the rules affecting their employment and career and by extension to influence immigration laws and effect multiculturalism. In the early days, multiculturalism was viewed as "democracy gone wrong."

Immigration favoured white people and from specific geographical locales (E.g. The British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or the USA). Other peoples from the British Empire were not considered on equal footing as other British subjects who were immigrating from predominantly white countries. "It was believed that if a foreign group was larger than one percent of the total population, it might prove disruptive and not be as easily controllable." Canada, at that time, wanted to avoid the "black problem" existing in the USA.

I read with deep interest the story of the porters, their job specifications and expectations, the gruelling shifts, and even the injustice of it all.

Sleeping car porters commonly referred to as Pullman service were always at the beck and call of passengers. They "received the passengers on board; turned up and down their beds and seats; provided waiter service, cleaned spittoons, toilets, and ashtrays; regulated the heating and cooling to suit the travellers' comfort; polished shoes; and brushed off passengers' coats and hats when they were leaving the train... a brisk whisking of the coat or hat gave the porter a last chance to earn a tip."

Given the long journey across Canada often starting in Montreal and ending in Vancouver, porters were also responsible for telegraphing availability and conditions of berths along the way. Given that the railway wanted to safeguard the reputation of the service they provide, an interesting code was developed. For example:

• mice on board were referred to as diamonds,
• rats - sapphires
• bedbugs - pearls
• roaches - rubies
• lice - opal

Prior to the porters being unionised, the employer was ruthlessly demanding and unjust. And yet the job was coveted; in fact, Foster wrote that a young black woman looking for a secure future may consider marrying a porter as a good bet. Blacks were ascribed their place. They were reputed to "be good singers, good cooks, and good cleaners."And they were denied many opportunities solely on the basis of their skin colour.

For someone who enjoys hockey, one story stuck to me - the denial of Herb Carnegie (son of a Jamaican immigrant) to play in the National Hockey League (NHL). Conn Smythe who was the general manager of the Maple Leafs Hockey Club was quoted as saying "he'd give $10,000 to anyone who can turn Herb Carnegie white". This lost opportunity to play in the NHL plagued Carnegie until his death in 2012. He saw this as the biggest disappointment of his life.

Popular writings and schools of thought of that time period influenced thinking, policies, and became entrenched as societal mores. Ideas, which today, would be totally aberrant. Politicians of the day worried about the Black immigration and feared the Asian immigration which they believed might prove to be "even worse than Black immigration".

Many tactics were used to curtail immigration from certain countries, for example, shipping lines and agents were instructed to refuse to sell passenger tickets to "Black people in the empire". In another case, the Canadian government pressured the British colonial office in India to get the Government in India to ask "the viceroy to publicize the difficulties of life in British Columbia, the harshness of the climate, the lack of employment, and the consequent danger of becoming a public charge and of being deported".

Similarly people from the British West Indies considered British subjects were also not suitable immigrants to Canada. The author's assessment of those from the British West Indies is worth replicating: "Steeped in the traditions of British colonialism, West Indians perceived themselves as British. When Britain went to war, West Indian soldiers took up arms to fight alongside white and mixed-ethnic British. They delighted in speaking the King's English and proudly practicised English cultural norms. West Indian parliaments and social orders were based on the British Westminster system and jurisprudence... Barbados considered itself the Empire's Little England... West Indians were the products of the much-vaunted British education system...". It was with utter disdain they discovered that Canada would dare strip them of this essential part of their identity.

The book is ripe with examples of varied individuals and their immigration experiences. It showcases what conditions were in the early days. For example, a job application form contained questions such as one's skin colour - this was question 17 in the civil service application form in Canada.

Many passionate pleas were made to and in parliament and many leaders in the West Indies supported the cause. Jamaican Premier, Norman Manley spoke (in 1957) about the West indies as model for the world where "a mixture of peoples drawn from all over Europe, from Africa, and in the later days from India and from China. We truly represent one of the most remarkable multi-racial communities in the world... a bond of association and familiarity between us all."

Likewise, Grantley Adams spoke passionately about West Indians who despite their varied origins refer to themselves as West Indians. "They were colonial people, but different from most elsewhere...their schooling and culture were different from slave descendants in the Americas. And unlike others who had suffered slavery and colonialism, West Indians had become nation founders and nation builders - without having to resort to armed conflict."

The battle continued and eventually The Fair employment Act came into being and ultimately Pierre Trudeau saw it fit to announce the re-birth for Canada, one that would effectively call for the rewriting of the narrative of what is Canada and who was a Canadian. I consider this book an exposition of our history and it saddened me to know that the black porters endured and by the time, things were getting better, automation struck a blow. Car and air travel became more prevalent and rail travel diminished. When Air Canada opened for business in 1937, it sought flight attendants and stewardesses - jobs that were exclusively white.

To some degree, we still struggle with fair employment practices and hopefully recourse exist through human rights courts and tribunals. Every generation seeks to make things better. And we can always learn from history.

PS Most of the porters were formerly from the British West Indies; many were university students of law, medicine, dentistry, and other fields; they became porters to finance their studies and supplement their incomes; other forms of employment were not easily available to them.
(3.5 stars rounded up to 4)

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecil Foster in They Call Me George offers readers an excellent piece of accessible writing and analysis that skilfully melds together the multifaceted histories of labour, diplomacy, politics, gender, race, empire, and culture. In so doing, Foster puts forward—and convincingly defends—the thesis that Black train porters transformed the nature of Canadian society, especially in how it related to questions of race and immigration. Foster gives much of the credit to the porters, who not only fought for their own liberation and amelioration, but did so for all Black Canadians, and indeed all racialized people. Ultimately, “the train porters battled to make normal what is now socially routine, and even taken for granted”.

This book is at its very best when it draws the meaningful connection between the realities of the porters’ working experiences and their indispensable role in perpetuating black culture and fighting against white supremacy. As Foster notes, the Black porters, despite being marginalised relative to white workers on the railways, were nonetheless respected within the Black community, often because their long-distance travels helped to link disparate and small Black communities strewn across a vast nation. It was they who inspired trends in Black fashion, who patronised Black-owned businesses, who helped to spread vital news and literature, who built crucial personal relationships with travelling political figures, and who helped to build a shared-political consciousness aiming to win genuine equality and opportunity within and beyond the workplace. In more ways than one, Foster suggests that the generations of activism by Blacks in Canada culminated in the efforts of the porters.

Connected to this is how the porters—many of whom came from the British West Indies—fought to transform Canada’s immigration system, which was until the 1960's an explicitly racist one. This was especially galling for the porters because, as subjects of the British Empire/Commonwealth, they were equal to white Canadians, even if not in practice. Indeed, as Foster shows, most of Canada’s political and economic elite had worked to systematically exclude Black peoples, believing them to be unsuited for Canada’s geographic and cultural climate, and fearing that large influxes of non-white peoples would leave Canada with the same social strife that plagued the United States. It was perhaps the porters above all who led the campaign against these racist beliefs and regulations, paving the way for all sorts of ‘undesirable’ immigrants. In all this, the porters, in alliance with the people of the various West Indies nations, helped to fundamentally reshape the Commonwealth and Canada’s role therein. And as Foster suggests, it was the British West Indies that provided Canada with “the model of an organic multiracial society, where peoples of the world could live together” (175). So while the railways and passengers often demanded from Black porters “the kind of attention expected for guests in antebellum great houses”, the porters themselves organised valiantly against discrimination in Canada.

All of this is incredibly convincing and is rooted in both a dedicated objective to centre the voices of the porters themselves, but also in a robust historical and theoretical understanding of the Black experience in Anglo North America. Some issues arise, however, when Foster engages with wider questions of Canadian labour and political history. For instance, Foster is right to note the role that white trade unionists played in forging and perpetuating white supremacy on and beyond the rails, but perhaps aims his target too closely at figures like Aaron Roland (A.R.) Mosher, who he paints as the driving force of white supremacy within the labour movement. Mosher and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees (CBRE) are portrayed as the union that solidified the colour bar on Canada’s railways, but it should be noted that the CBRE were the first—and for a long time only—railway union in Canada to accept Black members. It is certainly accurate to criticise the union’s failure to desegregate their seniority lists, but painting Mosher and the CBRE as villains in relation to the more ardently-exclusive craft brotherhoods is perhaps over-simplistic.

Likewise, Foster quotes a 1946 Canadian Congress of Labour report referencing desirable white immigrants as an example of Mosher reinforcing a white supremacist Canada. But he fails to acknowledge that, during the question portion directly following that report, Mosher declared that Canada should freely accept non-white immigrants, a position Trades and Labor Congress (TLC) President Percy Bengough rejected, even though the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters were affiliated to the TLC. Lastly, Foster blames the Canadian labour movement’s split on Mosher and the All-Canadian Congress of Labour’s nationalism, but does not reference the fact that it was the TLC who expelled the CBRE in 1921 for not merging into an American union, and it was the TLC who in 1902 expelled all Canadian locals who refused to obtain membership within American Federation of Labor-affiliated unions.

None of this undermines the book’s core thesis, or even many of its secondary points, but is perhaps driven by the fact that the book makes insufficient reference to some of the historiography not directly related to its main premise. While there are meticulous citations of those issues directly related to the porters, very few references are made to scholarship relating to Canadian labour history, either in general, or its relationship to race and immigration. Similarly, the book speaks rather fondly of both the rise of official multiculturalism and the enshrinement of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but does not meaningfully engage with the scholarship that is critical of these seminal events.

But lest this criticism be misunderstood, it should be restated that this is a pioneering effort that should not be ignored by anyone interested in labour, political, diplomatic, or social history. Despite its limitations, Foster has given us in They Call Me George an indispensable look into how the Black Canadian porters played a foundational role in the building of contemporary Canada.

[RKanimalkingdom]

DNF 29%

This book was not written well. A lot of material was continuously repeated. I didn’t know what direction the book was going towards and honestly, after the memories of the porters, the book just got boring.

[Rennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dense, heavy going book that is well-researched but not written in a conversational style. An interesting account of the history of the point system, how rigid the rules were in terms of how many people Canada would accept from various countries and the limitations on their mobility when they got here.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please don’t form an opinion of this wonderful book, based on the time it took me to finish. I was listening on audible and had to find suitable time to listen. They Call Me George is enthralling.
An account of the formation and activism of the Sleeping Car Porters, George is eye opening. Canadians are far too naive about our history, and far to smug about our supposed multiculturalism.
Foster provides a detailed chronological account of The formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, including anecdotal accounts.
I was very ignorant of Canada’s whites only immigration policies that persisted into the 70s. In this context, one gains a deeper appreciation for contemporary issues. Armed with this knowledge we can work to continue to build a more inclusive Canadian society.
They Call Me George should be required reading in every civics class.

[Joelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book might sound a little over-ambitious.
It is not.
I learned about the Black train porters, their relationship with the railways and with Canada's government and with other minorities.
Canada's immigration history. Canada's relations with other Commonwealth countries, especially the West Indies, and with the US. Rail history, labour history, and how multiculturalism happened.
There's so much in here. The content is interesting, the writing is very readable.
I'll read more by Cecil Foster.

[Joan Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the plus side: I learned a lot from this book about Canada’s intention to be a white nation & the part the railway porters played in disrupting that plan.

On the down side: I grew frustrated with reading the same facts over & over again..... which made me wonder if I was reading a collection of stand-alone essays..... which would have changed my expectations around the flow of the narrative.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY interesting book but very dry read. Well researched and documented. A eye opener.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this audible book up mainly as I was interested in learning more about Canada's History from a racial perspective and I was not disappointed.

This book provides an excellent history lesson on how racist Canada was in it's past with regards to many of it's immigration policies and how it kept non-white individuals out of positions of any real power. The stories of the Railway Porters are intertwined within this history lesson in a very engaging way. This is a story that should be included in history lessons today. Aside from the racist policies existing during these times (existent up to early 1970s) there is very interesting information about the West Indies and how, despite their embracing of British Culture they were never considered more than second class people, which is just horrible. I also learned that the West Indies were looking to join Canada but were rejected mostly due to the high black population of those islands. Unforgiveable!

Since this was an audible review, I must say the individual who read this story was a little more monotone and a bit dry for my liking. The story itself, while very informative, was also a bit dry in it's writing style but then it's also written more like a history lesson so that may be par for the course in that case.

Overall, this is a 4-star audible book with 5 stars for the information you will get from within. If you want to learn more about the history of Canada you don't get from High School, read this book!

[Mel H · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have benefited from a good editor. The author is knowledgeable and well-spoken, I learned things I didn't know and was interested to find out more about... but the general premise is misleading. This is not a book about Black train porters, it is a book about the unionization of the porters and their delegation to forward Black rights in Canada. There is, in fact, very little that is distinctly about the porters. The book teaches us that there were really only two jobs available to Black people in the early 1900s: to go to sea or to become a porter. After that, it equates the entire Black community with the porters. There is perhaps the equivalent of a dozen pages about the porters themselves and their working conditions, with one or two quotes from interviews. And then we're off, on a grand adventure to Ottawa with the delegation, over and over and over again. Information is repeated chapter after chapter, making me wonder if this was originally written as a collection of essays. I tried to get through it, I told myself I'd read a chapter a day... but in the end, it's not what I was expecting or hoping for, and the fact that this story could have been told in 100 less pages makes it very, very slow going. I gave up just over half-way through and admitted it just wasn't for me.

[Carla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rounded down from 1.5** I was so disappointed in this history book. I can’t believe I’m saying that as I had originally wanted to read They Call Me George soon after its publication in 2019 but never did. Then when Suzette Mahr’s novel, The Sleeping Car Porter, was published we decided to read that novel in our book club so I was glad I had waited to read Foster’s book as I thought reading the two books consecutively, one a novel and the other a history, would be enlightening. Although Foster’s history is only 282 pages, it seemed much longer. However, for me the main issue with They Call Me George may not be the fault of the author. I know Foster spent a lot of time researching and writing his history, that is evident. However a history titled They Call Me George - The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters, should have been predominantly about the Black Train Porters. There was some coverage of that part of history but the book got bogged down with so much other labour history. Yes, it may have been interesting to readers who wanted to read about those topics, but They Call Me George was not what the publisher stated it was, "a historical work of non-fiction that chronicles the little-known stories of black railway porters – the so-called “Pullmen” of the Canadian rail lines. "

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are expecting a book solely about the experience of Black train porters, I suspect (as many of the reviews for this book reveal) you will be disappointed. There is not much focus on the lives of Black porters or their union. Instead, Foster uses the porters as jumping off point to explore ideas around immigration, citizenship (especially who gets to claim British citizenship when you are a subject of its empire), employment discrimination, and the experience(s) of being Black in Canada.

While at times the book did drag in some parts and there were a few arguments that I found to be a stretch and could have done with a more critical analysis (Foster is very generous in his description of John Graves Simcoe and the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada, as well as the governmental recognition of multiculturalism in the 1960s and 1970s. He also quotes Duncan Campbell Scott without any context or acknowledgement of Scott's role as the head of the Department of Indian Affairs during the height of the residential schools system.... which, like, why would you trust a depictions of Simcoe from a guy responsible for cultural genocide?????), overall this is a superb scholarly text that dives deeply into many aspects of Canadian social and political history in the mid-twentieth century. The oral histories from the porters were especially insightful, and I wish they were used more to frame and build on Foster's argument, but despite these issues, it was an interesting read about a piece of rarely discussed Canadian history.

[Cindee Ketches · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like some other people mentioned in their reviews, I was mislead by the title of this book. I was expecting more about Train Porters and their stories; but that was only a small part of this book.

The history of prejudism and the birth and embracement of multiculturalism was very well told. I was surprised (& embarassed) at how bad and pervasive prejudism was. I had heard that Wilfred Laurier was prejudiced against black & brown people; but didn’t realize that he was actively trying to make a “white” Canada along with many of our other leaders.

I believe this was an important book for me to read, and many others should be exposed to this information. However, it did drag throughout the middle. It took me far longer to read this than most other nonfiction books. Perhaps if the title were more in line with the contents, my expectations would’ve carried me through better.

All in all, the writing was good and very clear. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a lesson in the history of Canadian immigration, prejudism, and citizenship. It was a real eye-opener.

[Enid Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another really important, and timely, book. Critically important, especially for the non-black population, Cecil Foster re-writes the history of black men in Canada. The trains - and the larger society - are seen for what they were.

But be forewarned. The writing is very dry, very academic. While some literary non-fiction reads like fiction and really invites the reader in, this book is written very ‘matter of factly.’ For all that the content is compelling, and as interested as I was in the subject matter, and as much as I wanted to read it I found myself keeping on picking it up and putting it down again… repeat process over and over.

This book definitely belongs in the professional collection in a school library, as a core resource for teachers, and reference text for students. The absolute strength of this book is the rich trove of primary source material presented along the way.

[Chris Bull · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much about being a Pullman porter

The author, Cecil Foster sets out to underline the struggle of black rail workers in the first half of the twentieth century
. In doing so, he focuses on the labor struggles and the color line found at that time. As an academic this Foster’s field of study.
I did not gain much of a feeling for the lives of actual porters which is why I bought this book in the first place.

[Bradley Somers · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I can find historical accounts of forgotten people who have made a difference in shaping/changing the moral foundations of Canada I read it. I found this very informative but only to a point. The over arching moral and injustices that Foster seeks to stress, not only as an author but as a personal judge of history, (most I can agree with) often gets more airtime then the historical accounts simply speaking for themselves. Loved the tie-in history from my very own city of Halifax.

[Dave Fleet · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter of this book is both interesting and important, but I found the way it was written to be near-impenetrable. The book bounces around the timeline with abandon and I found it incredibly different to follow. I did learn a lot but I had to really work hard to manage it - and unfortunately I found that to be not because of the difficult subject matter but for the way it was written. The only reason I kept going was because the subject matter itself is so important.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book difficult to rate. Like another reviewer the title is misleading. I expected more info on the sleeper car porters. In addition to this a good portion of the book was about Canada’s early political days. While the book did provide info of sleeping car porters it also provided me with some Canadian history I was not aware of and definitely should have been taught in school.

[Sarah Lowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hugely eye opening account of Canada’s past relating to racial issues - comparing how open and diverse Canada is today I could hardly believe much of what I was reading but am glad to have been educated. The book itself was a dry and heavy going though, jumping between years it was sometimes difficult to follow. 5 stars for the subject, 2 for the writing.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those expecting a personal telling of the story this is not the book for you. However, if you are interested in the history of systemic segregation and repression of people of colour within the passenger trains service this is a decent book to read. Provided me with a window into something I had no idea about!

[Kaiti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a ton of potential but unfortunately I feel like it's poorly executed. It's repetitive and rambling and the structure jumps back and forth all the time, making it hard to follow. It's unfortunate because it's a very interesting topic!

[bubblegumpopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew a little about the sleeping car porters, but mostly from a US perspective. It was fascinating learning about the equivalent struggles within Canada, and how hard the early Canadian founders tried to keep it a "White Haven". Important history for Canadians to learn!

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to stop reading this book. Between the lack of citations on certain parts, the missing information, and the lack of flow to the story, this book was bordering on sleep inducing. I will glean some things from the book in speed reading to the end.

[Julie D]

This book is not so much about Black Train Porters and more about the social and political racial changes they helped bring about. I also find the book to be disjointed. It's an interesting subject, but not the one I was expecting and the way the book is written doesn't work for me.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important story.

[Lorraine O'Sullivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very historical book. Filled with law, unions and racism. Happy to finish it.