Pullman, George Mortimer (1831–1897)

US engineer and entrepreneur who developed the Pullman railway car from 1864. It was not the first sleeping carriage but it was the most luxurious. Pullman cars were initially staffed entirely by black porters whose only income was from tips. In 1937 the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters became the first black union recognized by a US corporation.

Pullman left school at 14 to become a cabinetmaker. In an attempt to improve the standard of comfort of rail travel, he built his first Pioneer Sleeping Car 1864. He formed the Pullman Palace Car Company 1867 and in 1881 the town of Pullman, Illinois, was built for his workers. One of the most famous strikes in US labour history took place at Pullman in 1894 (see Pullman strike).