- [Narrator] In the 1920s, the Pullman Company employed more black workers than any other U.S. corporation.

As the workforce grew, so did its influence.

Porters played a major role in advancing black culture, carrying black newspapers like The Chicago Defender to nearly every corner of the U.S. - [Cornelius] The Chicago Defender, The Pittsburgh Courier, these were papers that brought the north alive in the imagination of many black southerners.

They're able to read about events and protests and feel part of those kinds of civil rights activities that are happening in places like Chicago and New York and other places in the north.

- [Narrator] Pullman porters were sowing the seeds of civil rights activism.

- Oftentimes, they would have these newspapers and throw them off the back of the trains and through word of mouth, local youth, in particular would know where to pick these newspapers up and they would take the papers back to their communities, back to their stores, back to their churches.

- [Narrator] This early 20th century social network connected African-Americans across the U.S.

It also connected porters with one another and as they read stories of workers standing up to their employers, porters' own sense of agency grew.

(dramatic music) - They're discovering the power of a collective voice and they're beginning to organize.

- [Narrator] Chicago employed the greatest number of Pullman porters.

It was also the epicenter of the labor struggle.

- So, Chicago is this boiling pot of conflict, hostility, uncertainty, and you really have the early formation of two warring classes.

- Striking activity, it starts picking up because, of course, you have railroad unions, you have steel workers.

You even have efforts by the stockyard workers in Chicago to strike.

- [Narrator] Pullman workers were persistent, asking the Pullman Company to address their concerns around pay and conditions.

The company responded by creating and touting a company union: the Employee Representation Plan.

- These Employee Representation Plans had all sorts of social benefits like softball teams and a singing group but they never actually bargained, negotiated contract terms for Pullman porters.

The need for sleep, the need to be compensated for money spent for supplies used to service customers like shoe polish and brushes.

The need for a legitimate wage and not a reliance on tips.

None of these things were part of the Employee Representation Plan.

- [Narrator] The porters knew that if they wanted real change, they needed to organize.

They had to be smart, strategic and stay under the Pullman Company's radar.

- Losing your job could have serious impact on your entire family.

- [Narrator] In 1917, away from prying eyes of company management, porters began circulating a monthly magazine titled "The Messenger."

It was the creation of A. Philip Randolph, a labor activist sympathetic to the porters' cause.

- The Messenger was a radical magazine edited by A. Philip Randolph.

Randolph is deeply invested in talking about the class issues that workers face.

- He saw the importance of being a free citizen, to being an independent American, not being controlled or dictated or limited by your skin color.

He saw how that was deeply implicated with your economic power.

- [Narrator] Editorials in The Messenger campaigned against lynching and called for integration.

It also urged its readers to join black unions.

- The fair treatment of black workers is part and parcel with a broader kind of social contract around equal justice.

What he would say is that you could not achieve genuine social justice without economic opportunity