ISBN: 9781771962629
By: Cecil Foster
A historical work of non-fiction that chronicles the little-known stories of Black railway porters—the so-called “Pullman” of the Canadian rail lines—and how they made the nation the multicultural beacon as it’s known in the world today.
The actins and spirit of these men helped define the nation in surprising ways; affecting race relations, human rights, community building, the shape and structure of unions, and the nature of travel and business across the US and Canada.
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.
