Lyn Hughes’ legacy centers on preserving overlooked narratives of Black labor movements, particularly the Ladies Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Hughes, founder of the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, and her son, David Peterson, the current president, recently discussed their museum’s expansion. The initiative introduces the nation’s first women’s history museum honoring these unsung heroines. Groundbreaking is scheduled for March 29.
Why was it important to center this museum around the women of the Ladies Auxiliary?
LH: It was important because the first step was founding the first Black Labor History Museum in the nation… The Ladies Auxiliary was an integral part of the creation of the [Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]. They were the backbone, and history has not given them the credit they deserve…. The [Ladies] Auxiliary became a tool in the team of creating the first Black labor union to be chartered under the American Federation of Labor…. If the Pullman Company accused the men working as porters of participating in union activity, the women—the wives, daughters, and mothers of those men—could provide alibis. The women also raised essential funds through activities that appeared social but were covers for union organizing. They … held fundraisers because the men needed money to organize. The women creatively organized bake sales, quilting parties, or tea parties, but behind the scenes, they were actually conducting union business … These seemingly insignificant acts were critical to the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. They wouldn’t have succeeded without them.
What stories will have the most powerful impact in the museum?
LH: My recent exhibit traces the Pullman Company’s hiring of newly freed slaves through their evolution to union recognition. Initially viewed as property rather than employees, Black workers gradually understood their significance and quietly leveraged their positions to gain crucial insights into finance and commerce.
Porters cleverly transformed their seemingly subservient roles into powerful platforms for information exchange and economic empowerment…. They functioned as the internet of their day, systematically distributing newspapers and vital information, supported significantly by the Women’s Auxiliary.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming groundbreaking?
LH: For me, I’m just grateful … because we get to do another first when people didn’t think we were going to do the first one.
To stand in front of that building that was set on fire with us in it to make us go away … and now to say not only did we not leave, but look at what we’ve done. We repurposed it, and it’s going to be something people from around the world will come to see and learn from.
The Women’s History Museum is different because it’s like mothers, if that makes sense. It has a lot of power, so I’m grateful and overwhelmed, and I could not be more proud.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place March 29 at 2 p.m. at 10432 South Maryland.
