🚉 The Black Railway Porters Who Moved a Movement

Date: June 9th
Category: Black British History | Labour & Civil Rights | Hidden Figures

They carried bags, served tea, and pressed uniforms — but they also carried dignity, defiance, and demands for justice.

Today, The Time Traveller’s Guild shares the remarkable and too-often overlooked stories of the Black railway porters who worked Britain’s and Canada’s railways in the 20th century. Often treated as invisible, these men were not only pillars of railway service — they were trailblazers for workers’ rights and racial equality.

Let’s meet the porters who did more than ride the rails.
They moved a movement.

🧳 Who Were the Railway Porters?

Railway porters were the men responsible for:

Carrying luggage
Cleaning carriages
Serving food and drink
Attending to first-class passengers

They were uniformed, underpaid, and almost always underappreciated.

From the early 1900s through the mid-20th century, Black men — many of whom migrated from the Caribbean, Africa, and the Americas — were funnelled into these roles in both the UK and Canada, where institutional racism often barred them from higher-ranking railway positions.

🚂 In Canada and Britain alike, the job was seen as “respectable service,” but it came with long hours, low wages, and little security.

🇨🇦 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Let’s start in Canada, where the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) became the first Black-led trade union in North America.

Founded in 1925 by American activist A. Philip Randolph, the Canadian branch empowered porters to:

Demand fair pay and proper hours
Protest workplace discrimination
Build a backbone of the Black civil rights movement in Canada

Porters became:

Union organisers
Civil rights leaders
Community builders and educators

✊ “The porters brought ideas, literature, and activism along with the luggage.” — Historian Cecil Foster

🇬🇧 Black Porters in Britain

In Britain, railway porters from the Caribbean were recruited in waves after WWII, especially during the Windrush era.

They worked on:

London Transport railways and Underground lines
National Rail routes and mail trains
Freight and night services no one else wanted

While formal Black-led unions were less prominent in Britain, many porters:

Joined and strengthened existing trade unions
Campaigned for equal pay and anti-racist workplace policies
Contributed to the foundations of the Black British civil rights movement

🕊️ Figures like Asquith Xavier, who fought for his right to work at Euston Station in 1966, helped challenge colour bars on the UK railway.

🔥 Notable Figures to Know

👔 Asquith Xavier (UK)

Denied promotion at Euston Station due to a “colour bar”
Won his case and helped abolish racial hiring restrictions in British Rail

🧢 Stanley G. Grizzle (Canada)

Porter turned labour activist
Helped integrate railway unions
Later became Canada’s first Black Citizenship Court Judge

📖 Donald Moore (UK)

Former porter and political activist
Organised the 1963 campaign for Caribbean migrants’ rights
Instrumental in fighting housing discrimination and supporting Black workers

🛤️ Their Legacy Lives On

Equal opportunities in transport jobs today stem from these fights
Railway unions now celebrate the role of Black workers in their histories
Heritage trails and plaques in cities like London, Toronto, and Montreal now honour these once-silenced voices

📚 Their stories are history on the move — and resistance in uniform.

🚉 Where to Honour Their Journey

🏛️ Black Cultural Archives, Brixton – Includes materials on Black British railway workers
📚 Workers’ History Museum, Ottawa – Preserves porter history and union materials
🖼️ Railway Museum, York – Increasing focus on inclusivity in railway stories
🏙️ Heritage walking tours in Brixton, Euston, and Shepherd’s Bush

📚 Want to Know More?

They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters by Cecil Foster
Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain by Mike Phillips & Trevor Phillips
Transport and Race in Britain – History Today
Canadian Museum for Human Rights – Sleeping Car Porters

💬 Join the Tribute: #PortersOfProgress

Got a family photo of a railway worker? Want to share a tribute or a story passed down?
Tag @TimeTravellersGuild and use #PortersOfProgress — we’ll feature your stories in this month’s digital honour roll.