Teaching American History Grant

Jackson Public SchoolsDr. Leslie Burl McLemore

A. Philip Randolph represented the perfect blend between the civil rights and labor communities. Randolph fully understood the struggle for human and civil rights should involve all of the tools and resources that we had at our disposal. Indeed, Mr. Randolph was the conscience of organized labor in that he sought to get the trade union movement to set its own house in order. He urged and challenged organized labor to join in the struggle of African Americans for freedom and equality. A. Philip Randolph helped to draft the “strongest statement of labor’s position on civil rights ever to come before a convention of the AFL-CIO.” Randolph, the labor leader and civil rights leader was also called a dreamer of dreams.

How did A. Philip Randolph bridge the gap between Civil Rights and Labor?

What role did he play in organizing the March on Washington?

How did he fight to ban discrimination in the armed forces?

April 5, 1889 – May 16, 1979

Leader in the American labor movement

Organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Was the head of the March on Washington in 1963

Chandler Owen

Bayard RustinMarcus Garvey

Booker T. Washingto

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W.E.B. Dubois

A Chronology

1907 – Randolph graduates from the Cookman Institute

1914 – While working for the Brotherhood of Labor, Randolph meets Lucille Green, who is six years older than him. They marry in November

1916 – Chandler Owen and Randolph join the Socialist Party

1889 - 1967 African American

writer, editor and early member of the Socialist Party of America.

Graduated from Virginia Union University

Wrote speeches for candidates and presidents including: Thomas Dewey, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson

“We do not thank God for anything... our Deity is the toiling masses of the world and the things for which we thank are their achievement.”

a political and literary magazine by and for African-American people in the early 20th century

Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen began publishing The Hotel Messenger in August of 1917.

Renamed simply The Messenger, the featured more articles about black culture and began to publish rising black writers.

The Messenger openly critiqued Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s theory of Black Nationalism.

In 1918, Randolph and Owen were arrested for sedition, and U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer labels the Messenger “by long odds the most dangerous of all the Negro publications” in the United States.

August 1887 – June 10, 1940

Jamaican political leader, publisher, entrepreneur and orator

President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League

Founded the Black Star Line

Part of the Back-to Africa Movement which promoted the return of the African to their ancestral lands Diaspora

(April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915

an African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor to Republican presidents

attained national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895,

Secretly funded litigation for civil rights cases, such as challenges to southern constitutions and laws that disfranchised blacks

February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963

Sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor

Graduated from Harvard as the first African American to earn a doctorate

Professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University

Co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909

1918 – Randolph and Owen are arrested for sedition, and U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer labels the Messenger “by long odds the most dangerous of all the Negro publications” in the United States

1925 – Randolph helps establish the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP)

Established in 1925 by A. Philip Randolph

The first labor organization led by blacks to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

After protracted negotiations, the union won its first contract in 1937. 

The BSCP also remained a source of inspiration and activism in African American communities, providing a training ground for future civil rights leaders like C.L. Dellums and E.D. Nixon

1928 – The Messenger ceases publication. The BSCP grow to a membership of 1400

1929 – The BSCP joins the American Federation of Labor

1932 – The BSCP membership falls to under 800

1935 – Randolph becomes president of the National Negro Congress

Formed in 1935 at Howard University as a broadly based organization with the goal of fighting for Black liberation

NNC was the culmination of the Communist Party's Depression-era effort to unite black and white workers and intellectuals in the fight for racial justice

In February 1936, the first national meeting of the Congress was held in Chicago. It was a confluence of civic, civil rights, labor, and religious groups from across the nation; over 800 delegates representing 551 organizations and over 3 million constituents attended.

A. Philip Randolph was elected President and John P. Davis was elected National Secretary.

1937 – The BSCP wins its struggle with the Pullman Company and becomes the bargaining agent for porters

1940 – Randolph resigns from the National Negro Congress

1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802

1941 – The Fair Employment Practice Committee was created

Also known as the Fair Employment Act

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941

Prohibit racial discrimination in the national defense industry

It was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States

“The democratic way of life within the nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups“ – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

(FEPC) implemented US Executive Order 8802

FEPC rules applied and guaranteed equality of employment rights

generally successful in enforcing non-discrimination in the North, it did not attempt to challenge segregation in the South

1943 – Randolph establishes the National Council for Permanent FEPC

1946 – The wartime FEPC ceases to exist. Randolph helps create the National Education Committee for a New Party and arranges for the publication of the group’s “Provisional Declaration of Principles”

1947 – Randolph creates the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training to desegregate the military

1948 – President Truman signs the Universal Military Service and Training Act

1948 – Randolph forms the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation

1948 – President Harry S. Truman issues Executive Order 9980 and 9981

In 1947, A. Philip Randolph, along with colleague Grant Reynolds, renewed efforts to end discrimination in the armed services, forming the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale – executive order 9981

9980 is an executive order

issued on July 26, 1948 by President Harry S. Truman.

Abolished racial discrimination in the armed forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services

9981 Executive Order

9981 ordered the desegregation of the federal work force

1957 – Randolph helps to stage the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, largest civil rights protest in Washington, D.C., to that date.

1958 – Randolph organizes the Youth March for Integrated Schools, to support the desegregation of educational institutions

1959 – Randolph assumes presidency of the Negro American Labor Council to fight for reform and civil rights in the American Federation of Labor

Founded in 1959, the NALC sought to address the failure of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) to end racial discrimination in some of its unions

‘‘The Negro American Labor Council speaking for thousands of Negro workers is fully behind you—strong in our material and spiritual condemnation of the violence visited upon you, we pledge our unstinting aid’’ – Randolph telegraphed to Martin Luther King, Jr. in reaction to the 1961 Freedom Rides

The campaign demanded that Sears Roebuck retail stores hire African American women as sales clerks. Their struggle was relentless, lasting six days a week for nine long months

Wednesday, August 28, 1963

Was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history – Washington Post

Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 (police) to over 300,000 (leaders of the march).

Randolph Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom

in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson

an organization for African American trade unionists

APRI was co-founded in 1965 by Bayard Rustin

a bridge between labor and black communities

APRI was the spearhead for an organization called the "Black Alliance

Today APRI has 150 chapters in 36 states

March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987

An American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights

helping to initiate a 1947 Freedom Ride to challenge with civil disobedience racial segregation on interstate busing

In 1942, Rustin assisted George Houser and James L. Farmer, Jr., and activist Bernice Fisher as they formed the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). “Rustin was not a direct founder but was "an uncle of CORE," Farmer and Houser said later

In 1965, Rustin became the first Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute

Rustin at a news briefing on the Civil Rights March

on WashingtonAugust 27, 1963

Sometimes called the "Randolph Freedom budget", aimed to deal with the economic problems facing the Black community - particularly workers and the unemployed

This called for the spending of $185 billion over ten years by the U.S. government to fight against poverty, So spoke A. Philip Randolph from the convention floor of the AFL-CIO.

Proposed to Congress and President Johnson

"The labor movement traditionally has been the only haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden and the poor." - A. Philip Randolph