10,000 Black Men Named George
Starring: André Braugher, Charles S. Dutton, Mario Van Peebles
Director: Robert Townsend
When the Great Depression stuck America in the 1920s finding work was hard,
but if you were poor and black it was virtually impossible. Working as a porter for the
Pullman Rail Company was an option, but it meant taking home a third as much as
the white employees and working some days for free. You could forget about being
called by your real name - all black porters were simply called "george" after George Pullman,
the first person to employ emancipated slaves.
Asa Phillip Randolph, a black journalist and educated socialist trying to establish a voice
for these forgotten workers, agrees to fight for the Pullman porters' cause and form the first
black union in America. Livelihoods and lives would be put at risk in the attempt to gain 10,000
signatures of the men known only as "George". This is the story of how a courageous leader
came to be known as "the most dangerous man in America".
Price: $19.99 [DVD]
