Obama to Make Chicago's Pullman Park a National Monument

[SarahZ]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/02/10/obama-to-make-chicagos-pullman-park-a-national-monument/

President Obama will designate Chicago’s Pullman Park district, an iconic site in African American and labor history, as a national monument next week, according to White House officials.
The area, which includes nearly 90 percent of the original buildings that rail car magnate George Pullman built a century ago for his factory town, was the birthplace of the nation’s first African American labor union. The president will travel to Chicago Feb. 19 to make the designation in person, said White House spokesman Frank Benenati in an e-mail.

 

[SarahZ]

I'm not sure why the topic name changed my apostrophe to a question mark. Could a mod please change "Chicago?s" to "Chicago's"

Thanks!

 

[crabby_appleton1950]

Saw this on the evening national news. I think it's great! There was a PBS show recently about Pullman.

 

[railiner]

Heard about this on a radio news broadcast. The reporter mistakenly credited George M. Pullman as founding the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Most of us know that it was A Philip Randolph, a Pullman Porter that founded it. (George must have turned over in his grave).....

 

[NorthShore]

I'm not entirely sure that this sends the right political message, in support of Rahm Emmanuel (which is what the timing of the endeavor was, an endorsement in election season) considering that Pullman was the rich guy trying to control his workers and keep them down.

 

[John Bredin]

I'm not entirely sure that this sends the right political message, in support of Rahm Emmanuel (which is what the timing of the endeavor was, an endorsement in election season) considering that Pullman was the rich guy trying to control his workers and keep them down.

The message depends on whether the focus is on Pullman the man/company or upon his workers. My impression is that the focus of the monument is mainly on the labor-history aspects, both the factory workers (regimented company town, strike of 1894) and the sleeping-car porters (organizing, and the oxymoron or dichotomy of a relatively well-paid and respected job that involved long hours as essentially a servant). I seriously doubt George Pullman is going to be the hero of the story this monument tells.

 

[Steve4031]

Heard about this on a radio news broadcast. The reporter mistakenly credited George M. Pullman as founding the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Most of us know that it was A Philip Randolph, a Pullman Porter that founded it. (George must have turned over in his grave)..... [/quote
A Philip have turned over twice by now.

 

[NorthShore]

But Rahm really is considered a sort of Pullman in his own approach to politics.

The fact that he didn't carry one African American majority ward suggests that the president's efforts haven't helped.