Porter Talk trailer

 

Discover Library and Archives Canada presents “Porter Talk.” This mini-series explores the lived experiences of Black men who laboured as porters for both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways during the twentieth century. Their voices, along with those of their wives and children, relay stories of both hardship and resilience. (Podcast series trailer)

Duration: 1:31

File size: 2.2 MB Download MP3

Publish Date: August 15, 2024

• Transcript of Porter talk trailer

  CNR Promotional Recording: “Life on the train is fun and comfortable for these modern explorers, whether it’d be just watching the scenery glide by or keeping in touch with the outside world.”

  Sound of record swiping

  Stanley Grizzle: … [W]hy did you come to Canada?

  Aurelius Bennett: To-to escape uh, discrimination.

  Mel Grayson: … When I came outta high school and started looking for a job, I found that there weren’t any jobs to be found.

  Raymond Lewis: … [W]e had so many men with … many years of college and even with the diplomas sticking out of their hip pockets still shaking those sheets.

  Helen Wachter: … There was nothing else for the men to do except railroad. And the conditions under which they had to do it were so abominable.

  Joseph M. Sealy: … [W]e were going from Montreal to Vancouver, working twenty-one hours a day … And that was inhuman.

  George Forray: … I mean, they could bulldoze a-a porter ‘cause you were just part of the-the, uh, equipment … As long as the cars rolled, we rolled. No rights.

  Sound of steam engine

  Narration by Richard Provencher: Discover Library and Archives Canada presents “Porter Talk.” This mini-series explores the lived experiences of Black men who laboured as porters for both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways during the twentieth century. Their voices, along with those of their wives and children, relay stories of both hardship and resilience.

  Melvin Crump: … You mean porter talk? … well, uh, they had a language all of their own, I’ll tell ya …

  Narration by Richard Provencher: You can subscribe to Discover Library and Archives Canada wherever you get your podcasts.

Host: Richard Provencher, Chief, Media Relations, Communications and Policy Branch

Featuring the voices of: Stanley G. Grizzle, Aurelius Leon Bennett, Mel Grayson, Raymond Lewis, Helen Wachter, Joseph Morris Sealy, George Forray, and Melvin Crump

Voiceover for the French version of this podcast trailer: Théo Martin, Lerntz Joseph, Roldson Dieudonné, and Euphrasie Mujawamungu

Narrator biographies

Stanley G. Grizzle, the eldest of seven children, was born in Toronto in 1918. His parents, both of whom immigrated from Jamaica in 1911, worked in the service sector: his mother as a domestic servant and his father as a chef for the Grand Trunk Railway. Poverty and a lack of opportunities led Grizzle to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1940, where he began a 20-year career as a sleeping car porter. In 1942, he was conscripted by the Canadian Government, attaining corporal status while he served as a medic in Holland. In 1962, Grizzle left the CPR and became the first Black Canadian to be employed by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. He ran unsuccessfully for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation before being appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as a judge in the court of Canadian citizenship in 1978. A devoted activist, Grizzle campaigned tirelessly for reforms in Canadian labour, immigration, and human rights policies. He was also an avid historian dedicated to documenting and preserving Black History in Canada. His collection is held at Library and Archives Canada.

Aurelius Leon Bennett was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1925. Escaping racial violence and discrimination, he took a job with the CPR in 1944. Initially based in Toronto, he was later relocated to Winnipeg where he laboured as a sleeping car porter until his retirement in 1986. During his career, Bennett served as secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Division of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). (Source: 417400, File 1, 20:32)

Mel Grayson began working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) as a sleeping car porter in 1937, following in his father’s footsteps, as there were few employment opportunities for Black men in Toronto at the time. In the early years of his career, Grayson was promoted from porter to porter instructor. Subsequent promotions saw him act as a platform inspector, road inspector, and service instructor. His journey with the CNR spanned nearly two decades, culminating in his retirement in 1955. (Source: 417380, File 1, 2:08)

Raymond Lewis was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1910. He worked as a sleeping car porter for the CPR’s Toronto Division between 1930 and 1952 and was chairman of the Porters’ Mutual Benefit Association prior to the creation of the BSCP. Lewis was also an exceptional runner. Having been denied leave by the CPR, he gave up one month’s salary to compete in the Canadian Olympic trials in 1932, where he earned a spot on the team. He became the first Canadian-born Black athlete to win an Olympic medal—a bronze, for his performance in the 4 x 400-metre relay. (Source: 417395, File 1, 13:10)

Helen Wachter was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1918. Her father’s work as a chef and then sleeping car porter for the CPR took her family to Edmonton and Winnipeg. Wachter’s first husband, as well as her father-in-law, also worked as porters for the CPR. Because of her close connection with the profession, Wachter became a devoted member of the BSCP’s Ladies’ Auxiliary, serving as secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Division. (Source: 417396, File 1, 30:47)

Joseph Morris Sealy was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1910. He became a CPR sleeping car porter in 1928 and laboured for the company for 46 years. Sealy was a proud union man, serving as the president and vice-president of the BSCP’s Montréal Division. (Source: 417386, File 1, Time: 34:29)

George Forray was born in Montréal in 1911 to immigrant parents from Grenada and Guadalupe. In 1937, while travelling home from Mount Allison University, the CPR recruited him to work as a sleeping car porter for the summer. Forray never returned to school and remained with the company for 40 years. He was a proud member of the BSCP throughout his service on the rails. (Source: 417383, File 1, Time: 35:35)

Melvin Crump was born in Edmonton in 1916 to a family that immigrated to Keystone, Alberta, from Oklahoma in 1911 under the Homestead Act. Uninterested in farming, he became a CPR sleeping car porter in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression. He worked out of the Calgary Division until 1954, where he served as chairman of the BSCP Safety Committee. (Source: 417403, File 2, 22:33)

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