Mr. Adams is a developer, real estate company owner and an avid collector of artifacts, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a developer, Mr. Adams was instrumental in the revitalization of the Peoples Town neighborhood, in what is today the Hank Aaron Boulevard area. His interest in the collection and preservation of railroad and music memorabilia has influenced this donation of artifacts and documents of the Pullman Company to our repository. Mr. Adams is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

In 1897 George Mortimer Pullman (1831 - 1897) established the Pullman Palace Car Company that introduced an upscale means of commuting in the form of railroad sleeping cars in America. The Pullman Palace Car Company dominated this mode of transportation because it redesigned sleeping cars in order to make them more comfortable for passengers. The passengers Pullman had in mind were mainly white Americans because African Americans and other people of color were systematically barred from traveling in railroad sleeping cars during this period of American history.

Although African Americans were not allowed to patronize the services of the Pullman Company, they were earnestly sought after to work as porters for the company.