Question: White People Having Once Called Black Men "George"?

Question

When white people used to call black people "George" like 70 years ago, maybe before that, was this only to workers who worked on trains. Like baggage handlers, or maybe the guy's who took tickets from passengers?
If not, would they be called George if they were maybe working in a movie theatre or in a supermarket or as a cab driver or just sitting on a park bench or if they were attending a syphony or on their way to a store to buy milk?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]When white people used to call black people "George" like 70 years ago, maybe before that, was this only to ... a park bench or if they were attending a syphony or on their way to a store to buy milk?[/nq]
I have never heard of a blanket name "George" for black people. Have you read some book or seen some film in which one or more conductors or Pullman porters or other train workers were regularly called by that name?
I wasn't raised in an area in which black people lived, so when I began reading about them in US society (as support workers, etc.) it was already considered rude and politically incorrect in real life to refer to the men as "boys". I got to Chicago suburbs as a college graduate in the early '60s.
And, of course "shine" (shoeshine boy) and other occupational epithets apparently were common as late as the '30s. ( I can recall my sister telling me that, while riding a city bus sometime in the '50s, a black woman seatmate, looking out the window, referred to a black woman on the street as a "slit". Neither I nor my sister had ever heard that before, and certainly wouldn't have used the term.)
But that was middle-class semi-rural upbringing in Wisconsin. . .back in the day.
Oh, one time while walking along Larimer Street in Denver (it was a kind of skid row in the early '60s), a middle-aged white near-derelict companion who was directing me to a particular location, approached an unfamiliar black man and addressed him as "Stud" to ask for information. I think that in those environs, recognizing their equals, both men accepted that term as respectful, and not fawning." I wouldn't have dared to be so familiar. I was really out of my element.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]you read some book or seen some film in which one or more conductors or Pullman porters or other train workers were regularly called by that name?[/nq]
Robert Townsend directed a very good TV movie a few years ago called "10,000 Black Men Named George" about Philip Randolph's work in unionizing the porters of Pullman Rail. It was company policy for the black porters to be called by George Pullman's name.

¬R http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/arkville.html /// I look down my nose at people who think they are better than other people. Kibo

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]you read some book or seen some film in which ... or other train workers were regularly called by that name?[/nq]
[nq:1]Robert Townsend directed a very good TV movie a few years ago called "10,000 Black Men Named George" about Philip Randolph's work in unionizing the porters of Pullman Rail. It was company policy for the black porters to be called by George Pullman's name.[/nq]
The Pullman story has other aspects too. He built a company town in what is now part of the south side of Chicago. When I was there 40 years ago there was no museum but I'd be surprised if there wasn't now.
This location was the scene of the Pullman Riots, by those who assembled Pullman cars. I don't think any of the workers were black.

I slept in a Pullman car one night, but now I'm not even sure where I was coming from or going to.
[nq:1]¬R http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/arkville.html /// I look down my nose at people who think they are better than other people. Kibo[/nq]
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Question: White People Having Once Called Black Men "George"?

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