Support NorthStar News - Make a Donation

video icon  Video of the Week

Kenyan Art Up for Auction in London

Search Past Issues

October 18, 2012

  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History October 19 through October 25 October 19 1949 ----- Peter Tosh, given name Winston Hubert McIntosh, reggae singer-songwriter, musician and founding member of The Wailers, was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica.  As both a member of a band and as a solo performer, he brought international attention to reggae music.  A political activist as well as a performer, Tosh was dubbed "the Malcolm X of reggae music." Tosh was raised by an aunt and learned to play guitar at an early age, imitating perfectly guitarists he saw perform.

    More
  • Activists Attend Ceremony in France Naming Street for Mumia Abu-Jamal

    Activists Attend Ceremony in France Naming Street for Mumia Abu-Jamal by Linn Washington, Jr. Bobigny, France – Native American activist Bill “Jimbo” Simmons was among the 100-plus people attending a Saturday ceremony naming a street honoring imprisoned African-American activist/journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal in this city located six miles from the center of Paris.

    More
  • Black Detroit Homeowners Sue Morgan Stanley Over Mortgages

    Black Detroit Homeowners Sue Morgan Stanley Over Mortgages by Frederick H. Lowe Five African-American homeowners on Monday sued the investment banking firm Morgan Stanley, charging that the company encouraged one of the nation’s worst subprime lenders to issue mortgages to borrowers who were certain to default because of the loans’ high debt-to-income ratio.

    More
  • Highest Court Clears the Way for Early Voting for All in Ohio

    Highest Court Clears the Way for Early Voting for All in Ohio The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday boosted early voting in Ohio ahead of the Nov.

    More
  • Federal Judges Clear S.C. Photo-ID Law But Not for 2012

    Federal Judges Clear S.C. Photo-ID Law But Not for 2012 A three-judge federal panel has approved South Carolina’s new voter-ID law, but not for the 2012 presidential election.

    More
  • Andrew F. Brimmer Dies

    Andrew F. Brimmer Dies He was the first African American on the Federal Reserve Board Andrew F. Brimmer, the first African American to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, has died. Dr.

    More
  • National Baptist Voter Push Criticized as Mediocre

    National Baptist Voter Push Criticized as Mediocre by Maynard Eaton and Carrie L. Williams ATLANTA (TriceEdneyWire.com) --- Despite the fervent tones and solemn faces of the nation’s highest-ranking black Baptist leaders as they preached the importance of voting on Election Day, Nov.

    More
  • Blacks Must Use Economic Might

    Blacks Must Use Economic Might by A. Peter Bailey (TriceEdneyWire.com) --- Now that the end of the presidential campaign is nearly upon us, it is time to state once again that when it comes to promoting and protecting our individual and group interests in this country, we, as black people, have an extremely powerful -- not influential -- but powerful weapon that we don’t use effectively.

    More
  • Health Care is a Civil Right

    Health Care is a Civil Right by Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) --- Our Constitution offers us “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but we can’t pursue anything if we are unhealthy.

    More
  • Bain Sends Illinois Jobs to China

    Bain Sends Illinois Jobs to China by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. (TriceEdneyWire.com) --- Dot Turner has worked at what is now Sensata Technologies in downstate Freeport, Ill., for 43 years. The company does sophisticated work creating sensors for automobiles.

    More
  • Statue of Civil-Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer Unveiled

    Statue of Civil-Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer Unveiled Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper (TriceEdneyWire.com) --- She is remembered across the world as the woman who was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” On Oct.

    More
  • Nas’ Atlanta Pad Sold at Auction for $348,500

    Nas SunTrust Bank, the mortgage holder on rapper Nas’s home, has foreclosed on the living space and sold it at auction.

    More
  • Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to Host Fundraiser for President Obama

    Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to Host Fundraiser for President Obama Actor Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, will co-host later this month a fundraiser for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. The planned Oct.

    More
  • Christian College Investigates D’Souza’s Alleged Affair

    Christian College Investigates D’Souza’s Alleged Affair Dinesh D’Souza, who has made a scathing documentary about President Barack Obama, is in hot water with the board of directors of King’s College, a New York City-based Christian school, where D’Souza is president. The school’s board is reportedly investigating D’Souza, who is married but earlier this month filed for divorce, for an alleged adulterous affair with another woman that came to light in September. D’Souza arrived at a Christian event on Sept.

    More
  • An Energized Barack Obama Changes The Race

    An Energized Barack Obama Changes The Race by Barry Cooper Who would have thought it? The two candidates for President of the United States had another debate, and it was Mitt Romney who appeared to come across as “The Angry Black Man.

    More
  • Trial Date Scheduled in the Murder of Trayvon Martin

    Trial Date Scheduled in the Murder of Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman is scheduled to go on trial June 10th for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Judge Debra Nelson set the date on Tuesday morning following a brief hearing.

    More
  • Roland Warren to Step Down as Head of the National Fatherhood Initiative

    Roland Warren to Step Down as Head of the National Fatherhood Initiative Roland C. Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, is leaving the organization to head another nonprofit agency.

    More
Poster for Pullman Porter Blues
Poster for Pullman Porter Blues

Pullman Porter Blues Premiers in Seattle

by Susan M. Miller
Seattle Repertory Theatre opened its 50th season September 27 with the world premiere of Pullman Porter Blues, a new musical by Seattle playwright Cheryl L. West. Lisa Peterson directed the play.

The musical, which is set in 1937, is a tribute to generations of African-American men who were employed as railway workers. The play's action centers on three generations of train porters at work on the luxurious Panama Limited, running from Chicago to New Orleans on the night of June 22, the night of Joe Louis’ historic bout in the ring with James Braddock for the world heavyweight boxing title.

West has drawn from her grandfather’s colorful stories about working for the railroad, Though he was not a Pullman porter, her grandfather worked on the postal trains. West recalls feeling that he was telling her about the best years of his life, that working for the railroad had opened him to the world.

In both music and dialogue, Pullman Porter Blues reveals the bonds and conflicts — some of them generational — among a grandfather, father and son, all of whom are porters on the same train. Passengers on the train, one of them a woman blues singer, figure largely in the play’s action. Depicted are familial joys and conflicts, racial clashes and a rich narrative of racial injustice and racial pride.

The musical boasts 14 classic blues songs, including “Sweet Home Chicago.” The set, designed by Riccardo Hernandez, is a visually stunning iteration of a luxury Pullman car, constructed of deep mahogany and shiny brass fittings.

Larry Marshall, a veteran Broadway actor, heads the cast, playing Monroe, the aging porter of the play.

Once sleeping cars were added to trains on long runs, they were staffed by Pullman porters who served on America’s railroads for almost 100 years from the 1870s until the late 1960s. Subject to long hours, poor pay and racial humiliation while on the job, Pullman porters took and kept their jobs for the good, steady work at a time when black men were hard pressed to find work. Working for the railroad also afforded porters an opportunity to work indoors, to travel, to see parts of the country previously unknown to them, to wear starched uniforms and neat neckties.

Pullman porters unionized under the direction of A. Phillip Randolph, forming the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925 and becoming the first labor organization led by blacks to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (A F of L). As air travel became increasingly available and affordable during the 1960s, the need for Pullman porters and their services decreased by increments and then ended.

Pullman Porter Blues runs through October 28.

The Northstar News & Analysis, Inc.
Chicago, IL | 312.504.0223
Copyright © The Northstar News & Analysis, Inc.
Contact Us: info@TheNorthstarNews.com
Privacy Policy

My statusContact Us on Skype