Editing Pullman porter (section)

==Contribution to a black middle class==

The black community looked up to Pullman porters and many people credit them as significant contributors to the development of America's black middle class. Black historian and civil-rights activist [[Timuel Black]] observed in a 2013 interview:

{{blockquote|text=[The Pullman porters] were good looking, clean and immaculate in their dress. Their style was quite manly, their language was carefully crafted, so that they had a sense of intelligence about them. They were good role models for young men ... [B]eing a Pullman porter was a prestigious position because it offered a steady income and an opportunity to travel across the country, which was rare for [black people] at that time.<ref name=autogenerated6>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130807/pullman/pullman-porter-museum-celebrate-50th-anniversary-of-historic-march |title=Pullman Porter Museum to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Historic March |location=Chicago |website=[[DNAinfo]] |date=2013-08-07 |access-date=2014-02-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225231355/http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130807/pullman/pullman-porter-museum-celebrate-50th-anniversary-of-historic-march |archive-date=2014-02-25}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated2 />}}

In the late 19th century, Pullman porters were among the only people in their communities to travel extensively. Consequently, they became a conduit of new information and ideas from the wider world to their communities. Many Pullman porters supported community projects, including schools, and saved rigorously to ensure that their children were able to obtain an education and thus better employment. Supreme Court Justice [[Thurgood Marshall]] and former San Francisco Mayor [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]] were descendants of Pullman porters.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Marshall was also a porter himself, as were [[Malcolm X]] and the photojournalist [[Gordon Parks]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Harry Bruinius |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2008/0229/p20s01-ussc.html |title=Pullman porters tell tales of a train ride through history |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=2008-02-29 |access-date=2014-02-15 |archive-date=2014-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222172358/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2008/0229/p20s01-ussc.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Berkeley, California Councilman, U.S. Congressman, and Oakland, California Mayor Ron Dellums was also a descendant of Pullman porters. His father was Verney Dellums, a Pullman porter and a longshoreman. His uncle, C.L. Dellums, was a leader in the Brotherhood of Pullman Car Porters union. Ron Dellums served fourteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. <ref>{{cite web |date=2023-04-23 |title=DELLUMS, Ronald V. |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/12109 |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=U.S. House of Representatives |archive-date=2023-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423063207/https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/12109 |url-status=live }},</ref>