8 - John Robinson

Sources

Foster, Cecil. They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada. Biblioasis: 2019.

Mathieu, Sarah-Jane. North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010)

Grizzle, Stanley G. My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada. Umbrella Press: 1998.

Calliste, Agnes. “Sleeping Car Porters in Canada: An Ethnically Submerged Split Labour Market,” Canadian Ethnic Studies vol. 19, no. 1, 1987, p. 3, 5.

Manitoba Historical Society. Memorable Manitobans: John Ashley Robinson.

Winnipeg Tribune Archives

CBRE. It was Never Easy: 1908-1958: A History of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers.

In the eighth episode of our One Great 150 series we talk about John Robinson, a railcar porter and labour activist who founded one of the first black-led unions in North America. We discuss the exclusion of black workers from railway unions, the creation of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, and how Robinson’s union responded to the Winnipeg General Strike.

Listen to the full episode :

Project funded in part by the Winnipeg Foundation’s Centennial Institute Grant, the Province of Manitoba’s Heritage Grant, and the Winnipeg Free Press.