Pullman National Monument (Illinois) Pullman National Monument, which comprises a neighborhood of the same name on Chicago’s South Side, commemorates several key moments in African American and labor history. Designed as a planned community for employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company, Pullman first became synonymous with the nascent labor movement in the 1890s, when federal troops clashed here with striking workers. Later, is was home to what is thought to have been the first-ever African-American labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which helped plant the seeds of the mid-20th century civil rights movement. Flashback: New monuments salute overlooked American history In recent years, protecting Pullman to preserve its historic significance became a popular bipartisan cause, and in July 2015, President Obama protected it as a national monument—the first-ever National Park Service unit in the city and one of only a few in the state.