Pullman Porters

My 40-year-old American Uber driver could not comprehend Pullman and never had any dealings with trains. Silly of me to make assumptions -

From Wikipedia

Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads as porters on sleeping cars.[1] Starting shortly after the American Civil War, George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passengers’ baggage, shine shoes, set up and maintain the sleeping berths, and serve passengers. #PullmanPorters served American railroads from the late 1860s until the Pullman Company ceased its United States operations on December 31, 1968, though some sleeping-car porters continued working on cars operated by the railroads themselves and, beginning in 1971, Amtrak.

A TRUE BROTHERHOOD

On my first cross country trip by train, my dad, who worked for Southern Pacific in their Algiers railyard, met with several porters. He wanted to assure my safety. When he and Mother accompanied me to Union Station, he found my guardians and introduced us. As I was taking my final step onto the train, he was double checking with the porter who would hand me over to his friend when we reached El Paso. True to his word, I met a new porter in West Texas who made sure that I arrived safely in Los Angeles.

I’d told all my LSUNO friends that I was leaving, but only #NormanElfer came to see me off. Thank you Norm, I never forgot.