Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George"
The Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George" (SPCSCPG) was founded as a joke by lumber baron George W. Dulany in 1914. Membership was open to all those whose first or last name was George. Its early members included Admiral George Dewey, who served as the group's first president, and writer George Ade. Dulany's secretary filled out and mailed more than 45,000 membership cards to people named "George" throughout the world, before Dulany retired from public life.
Rationale
At the time, railway
Although founded as a joke, it nevertheless had some effects for all porters. In 1926, the SPCSCPG persuaded the Pullman Company to install small racks in each car, displaying a card with the given name of the porter on duty. Of the 12,000 porters and waiters then working for Pullman, only 362 turned out to be named George.[1]
At its peak, the society claimed to have 31,000 members, including
See also
References
- ^ a b Tye, Lawrence (2003). "Choosing Servility To Staff America's Trains". The Alica Patterson Foundation. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
- OCLC 56634363.
- ISBN 9780742548985.
Sources
- Larry Tye (2004-07-06). Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-7075-3.
- Tye, Larry. "Choosing Servility To Staff America's Trains", AFP Reporter (volume 21, number 1), 2003. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
- "Names make news." December 7, 1936, Time Magazine. Retrieved June 21, 2007.