Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A documentary film with the title Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle. There are four prints of the film (2017.55.116.1a), (2017.55.116.2a), (2017.55.116.3a), and (2017.55.116.4a), all of which are color 16mm acetate film with bilateral area optical sound.

The documentary details the history of the Black Pullman Porters who organized for the right to unionize and form the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. It begins with a brief history of the Pullman Car Company and their reliance on exploited Black male labor. Narrated by the activist, educator, and wife of a Pullman Porter, Mrs. Rosina Tucker, the film uses a combination of archival footage, photographs, and first-hand accounts of former Pullman porters to explicate the working conditions that Black male Pullman Porters endured prior to the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1937. It shows how they fought for equal pay and treatment, despite racial discrimination, through the organization and formation of a union during the Jim Crow Era. Individuals featured in the documentary include Lawrence W. Davis, C.L. Dellums, Ernest Ford Jr., Green Glenn, Homer Glenn, William Harrington, Hunter Johnson, L. Long, William D. Miller, E.D. Nixon, L.C. Richie, J.D. Shaw, Rex Stewart, and C.J. Talley.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1982
• Directed by: Jack Santino Ph.D., American, born 1947
• Directed by: Paul Wagner, American, born 1948
• Subject of: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, American, 1925 - 1978
• Subject of: Rosina Tucker, American, 1881 - 1987
• Subject of: A. Philip Randolph, American, 1889 - 1979
• Owned by: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
• Type: sound films
• Type: color films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Duration: 56 min.
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Documentary films
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: Professional organizations
• Object number: 2017.55.116
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.