For decades, we’ve preserved places that help tell the story of Black life in America—reminders of the lessons our history has to offer, and a connection to our nation’s shared heritage.

Take Pullman National Monument on Chicago’s South Side. Its neat brick homes and warehouses date to the 1880s, when the Pullman District sprang up as the company town and headquarters of a major rail-car manufacturer. Today, the monument honors the courage and tenacity of labor leaders who strove for equal representation and safe working conditions for African American workers.

Pullman porters who ensured that passengers traveled in comfort and safety. In the 1920s, these porters formed the nation’s first black labor organization, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.Photo credit: Jack Delano/Library of Congress

In addition to building railway cars, the Pullman Company also employed porters—the majority of them African American—who ensured that passengers traveled in comfort and safety. In the 1920s, these porters formed the nation’s first Black labor organization, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. For the next decade, its leaders fought both the company's management and the nation's all-white labor leadership for a seat at the bargaining table. The collective bargaining agreement it finally signed with the Pullman Company in 1937 was the first ever negotiated by a black union.

You won’t find the porters’ story in most history textbooks, but you’ll find it at Pullman National Monument. It’s just one of the places honoring Black history your support has helped preserve.

Learn more in the slideshow:

Few things bring the events of the past to life so much as standing in the spot where they happened. Is there a place in your community that tells a part of the American story? Tell us about it! Join us on Facebook or leave us a comment.