The fight for equality both on and off the track; Premier of the CBC Special The Porter

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

The setting: the end of the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. It was a time when Black enslaved people were set free, many of whom needed jobs. During this time George Pullman had modelled trains with sleeper cars, and decided to hire Black men to work as porters for his company. By the 1920’s, Pullman was the largest employer of Black men in the United States. When the sleeper cars were imported to Canada, Pullman’s ideas of Black servitude came along with it, and just like that porters were hired from cities with established Black communities, including: Africville in Halifax, Little Burgundy in Montreal and Toronto’s Bathurst and Bloor area.

Once hired, these porters had to deal with blatant racism, discrimination, sleepless nights, and living with the fear of losing their job if they even thought about standing up for themselves. There did come a time when enough was enough. These men who were from America, and parts of the Caribbean disrupted the system, became instrumental in leading the fight for fair employment practices and anti-discriminatory laws.

Their fight for equality both on and off the track helped to shape the multicultural Canada we know today, and now, this generation has a chance to learn about these powerful advocates for change in a CBC and BET+ original series produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures and Sienna Films (a Sphere Media company).

The Porters is the brainchild of Arnold Pinnock, Executive Producer (Altered Carbon, Travelers) Co-executive Producer Bruce Ramsay (19-2, Cardinal), and Aubrey Nelson. They had a strong team to help bring the story to life, which includes:

• Jennifer Kawaja serves as Executive Producer for Sienna Films
• Ian Dimerman as Executive Producer for Inferno Pictures
• R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, Utopia Falls), Director and Executive Producer
• Charles Officer (Akilla’s Escape, Coroner), Director and Executive Producer
• Marsha Greene (Ten Days in The Valley, Mary Kills People), Writer
• Annmarie Morais (Killjoys, Ransom, American Soul), Writer
• Andrew Burrows-Trotman, Writer
• Priscilla White, Writer

THE PORTER is a gripping story of empowerment and idealism that highlights the moment when railway workers from both Canada and the United States joined together to give birth to the world’s first Black union. Set primarily in Montreal, Chicago and Detroit as the world rebuilds after the First World War, THE PORTER depicts the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal – known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North.”

I had a chance to interview Arnold Pinnock (who is also our Classic Man this edition), and he shared with me his passion for history, and why this project is so important to him.

“These men had come back from war,” Arnold tells me. “They were dealing with PTSD, and racism while fighting the war, and they came to Canada hoping to be seen as people, unfortunately they were not. I wanted their stories to be told.”

A theme that I noticed in the show was around mental health in the Black community. I asked him about the importance of that.

“When I think about us as a community, and the fact that we do not speak about mental health, I see now that it has become generational. We are fortunate to showcase how individually these characters had to live in the 1920’s. It was heavy. They lived paycheck to paycheck. If you lost your job, you would be in the bread line.”

Arnold did his research on the Porters, and this is why he was able to bring out such emotion in the characters and from the story.

“My love of Black history started at a very young age. I would look for books on Black Canadians, the Loyalist, Underground Railroad, and 1000 Strong. I would sit there, and I would read these stories to my parents. When I went down this road, the common denominator was these porters. When I found out that these porters came from the Southern States, and the Caribbean, it really drew my interest. They took on jobs that other people didn’t want, and they changed the policies. They helped to form the first and only Black Union.

It made me walk very tall. I hooked up with Bruce Ramsey, and I was able to do a short documentary on Little Burgundy. One of the things I found was a building The Negro Community Centre, where Black people were helping each other. The building was knocked down, but this empowered me. If you learn about our history, you will know that you have a stake in this game.  This show is a love letter to us, and I know people will not only enjoy it, they will relate to it.”

You can watch the premier of The Porter Monday, February 21^st 2022 at 9:00 pm (9:30 pm NT), on CBC and CBC Gem.