Asa Philip Randolph



Asa Philip Randolph



[pic]

Asa Philip Randolph, labor leader, was born in 1889 in Florida. After high school, he went to New York City and studied at City College. He was active in the Socialist party, and in 1925 he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. From that position of power he was influential in the formation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee. During these New Deal years, he threatened a march on Washington by a hundred thousand black people, to protest discrimination in the defense industries. He opposed discrimination also in the armed forces, and in 1955 he became a member of the AFL-CIO executive council. Two years later he was a vice president and in regular opposition to George Meany, the union leader who was lukewarm on civil rights in the unions.

It was during this active period that he was called the "most dangerous Negro in America" by those who feared his power. He was an organizer of the August 1963 march on Washington, sharing leadership responsibilities with Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and James Farmer. In later years his socialism became more moderate and he became active in the Urban League and the Liberal party. To carry out his commitment to his causes, he founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute, symbolizing the power of the black worker. He died in 1979, recognized for his many solid contributions to the civil rights movement.

Asa Philip Randolph, labor leader, was born in 1889 in Florida. After high school, he went to New York City and studied at City College. He was active in the Socialist party, and in 1925 he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. From that position of power he was influential in the formation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee. During these New Deal years, he threatened a march on Washington by a hundred thousand black people, to protest discrimination in the defense industries. He opposed discrimination also in the armed forces, and in 1955 he became a member of the AFL-CIO executive council. Two years later he was a vice president and in regular opposition to George Meany, the union leader who was lukewarm on civil rights in the unions.

It was during this active period that he was called the "most dangerous Negro in America" by those who feared his power. He was an organizer of the August 1963 march on Washington, sharing leadership responsibilities with Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and James Farmer. In later years his socialism became more moderate and he became active in the Urban League and the Liberal party. To carry out his commitment to his causes, he founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute, symbolizing the power of the black worker. He died in 1979, recognized for his many solid contributions to the civil rights movement.

A. (ASA) PHILIP RANDOLPH WAS BORN APRIL 15, 1889 IN

CRESCENT CITY, FLORIDA, TO REVEREND JAMES

WILLIAM RANDOLPH AND HIS WIFE ELIZABETH.

HE EXCELLED IN HIGH SCHOOL AT THE COOKMAN INSTITUTE,

WHEN THE FAMILY MOVED TO JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. WITH

LITTLE MONEY FOR COLLEGE, PHILIP MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY,

WHERE HE ACTED IN SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS AND WORKED MENIAL

JOBS.

HE ALSO BEGAN TAKING CLASSES AT THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW

YORK, WHERE HE STUDIED POLITICS AND ECONOMICS, AND

JOINED THE SOCIALIST PARTY. HE AND A FRIEND

ESTABLISHED A RADICAL WEEKLY, CALLED THE MESSENGER,

WHICH FOCUSED ON ALLEGED INJUSTICES TOWARDS PEOPLE OF

COLOR.

WHEN THE UNITED STATES ENTERED WORLD WAR ONE, PHILIP

RANDOLPH URGED BLACK MEN NOT TO FIGHT IN THE WAR

BECAUSE, HE ARGUED, THEY DID NOT HAVE THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS

IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. HE WAS ARRESTED AND RELEASED.

IN 1925, HE ORGANIZED A GROUP OF BLACK RAILROAD WORKERS

WHO CALLED THEMSELVES THE BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR

PORTERS. HE LED THEM IN A FIGHT AGAINST THE POWERFUL

PULLMAN (RAILROAD) COMPANY FOR BETTER WAGES AND WORKING

CONDITIONS. AFTER TWELVE YEARS OF RESISTANCE, THE

PULLMAN COMPANY SIGNED A CONTRACT THAT PAID THE UNION

MEMBERS TWO MILLION DOLLARS AND GUARANTEED THEM OVERTIME

PAY. THE VICTORY GAVE PHILIP RANDOLPH MORE RECOGNITION

AS A NATIONAL NEGRO LABOR LEADER.

HE ALSO FOUGHT TO END RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE MILITARY. IN 1941,

DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, MR. RANDOLPH URGED AMERICAN

BLACK MEN TO STAY OUT OF THE WAR UNLESS THE PRESIDENT

GUARANTEED THAT THEY WOULD HAVE BETTER JOB

OPPORTUNITIES. HE THREATENED TO LEAD THOUSANDS OF

NEGROES TO WASHINGTON IN PROTEST. FACING THE LIKELIHOOD

OF BEING EMBARRASSED BY THEM, PRESIDENT FRANKLIN

ROOSEVELT SIGNED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER THAT CALLED FOR AN

END TO DISCRIMINATION IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE

DEFENSE INDUSTRIES.

IN 1948, PHILIP RANDOLPH AGAIN THREATENED TO MARCH

ON WASHINGTON WHEN PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN WAS SLOW TO

ADMIT BLACKS INTO THE PEACETIME MILITARY. FACING AN

UPCOMING ELECTION BID AND NEEDING THE BLACK VOTES,

PRESIDENT TRUMAN SIGNED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER THAT

INTEGRATED AFRICAN-AMERICANS INTO THE REGULAR U-S

MILITARY.

ON AUGUST 28TH, 1963, A. PHILIP RANDOLPH LED THE MARCH

ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM, WHICH BROUGHT 250

THOUSAND PEOPLE TO THE NATION'S CAPITAL, AND WHERE THEY

HEARD MARTIN LUTHER KING JUNIOR DELIVER HIS FAMOUS "I

HAVE A DREAM" SPEECH.

AFTER SIXTY YEARS AS A NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS AND LABOR

ACTIVIST, A. PHILIP RANDOLPH DIED IN 1979. U-S

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER LED HIS FUNERAL PROCESSION.



Raised in abolitionist traditions by his minister father, A. Philip Randolph mirrored those beliefs for more than 60 years as a tireless champion of equal rights and equal opportunity.  He came to national prominence by organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Potters and after 10 years of  fierce struggle, achieving the first union contract signed by a white employer and a black labor leader in 1937.

And he was only beginning his commitment to the trade union concept and the civil rights movement.  In 1941 he conceived a marched on Washington, DC, to protest exclusion of black workers from defense industry jobs.  Faced with the public relations threat of 100,000 marchers, President Franklin Roosevelt established the wartime Fair Employment Practice Committee.  An active opponent of discrimination in the military as well, Randolph founded the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, which in 1948 pressured President Harry Truman into ending segregation in the armed forces.  These accomplishments, combined with his extraordinary presence, integrity and resolve, enabled Randolph to emerge as the most influential black public figure of the World War II period. 

Although in later years he became less militant in his views, Randolph was a dedicated socialist form his college days in New York.  His lifelong belief  in unionism and integration flowed from that basic philosophy, and he went into action in 1917 by cofounding The Messenger, a weekly magazine of black protest, and lecturing across the country. 

For his outspoken leadership, Randolph's opponents characterized him as "the most dangerous Negro in America."  It was a telling epithet, not because of his temperment--he often was called "The Gentle warrior"--but because of his proven power to create change.

He was still the acknowledged patriarch into the early 1970's and into his 80s, after his key role in organizing the historic, 250,000-strong March on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963 that marked a turning point in the African-American struggle for equal rights. 

"True liberation can be acquired and maintained only when the Negro people possess power: And power is the product and flower of organization...of the masses."__A. Philip Randolph, annual address, National Negro Congress.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download