Porter Primers: Why were all porters called ‘George’?

Introducing ‘Porter Primers’ — 6 short episodes that shed a little light on Black porter history with the help of historian Dr. Dorothy Williams.

For this first episode, Dr. Williams explains why porters were referred to as “George” and how it’s linked to slavery, the Antebellum Period, and a railroad car manufacturer.

‘Porter Primers’ is inspired by ‘The Porter’, a new original series from CBC and BET+ that follows the lives of Black train porters in 1920s Montreal.

While the show is fictionalized, it draws on decades of Black porter history — and that history changed Canada as we know it today.