History of Asa Philip Randolph

Asa Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Fl. He was an author, trade unionist, and civil-rights leader who was a dedicated leader in the struggle for justice and parity for the African American community.

Philip Randolph was the son of a Methodist minister. He moved to the Harlem district of New York City in 1911. While attending City College at night, with Chandler Owen, they founded an employment agency in 1912 hoping to organize black workers. In 1917 the two men founded a magazine named The Messenger which was later renamed The Black Worker after 1929. The magazine called for more positions in the war industry and the armed forces for blacks. After the war, he lectured at New York’s Rand School of Social Science and ran unsuccessfully for offices on the Socialist Party TICKET.


Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979)

Activist, Educator

In 1925 he became president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He became affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) at a time when Blacks were barred from membership. Despite the opposition, he built the first successful black trade union. A year later, Randolph removed his union from the AFL in protest against its failure to fight discrimination in its ranks and took the brotherhood into the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

When the AFL merged with the CIO in 1955, Randolph was made a vice president and member of the executive council of the combined organization. He was the first president of the Negro American Labor Council, formed by himself and others to fight discrimination within the AFL-CIO.



Please feel free to review more Links about Randolph's Extraordinary Successes!


http://www.aphiliprandolphmuseum.com/
http://hometown.aol.com/efirpo/randolph.html
http://www.bartleby.com/65/rn/RndlphAP.html
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/history/history/randolph.cfm
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0841110.html
http://members.aol.com/klove01/randolph.htm
http://www.templeton-interactive.com/lest5a.htm
 
http://diaspora.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/DiasporaX.woa/wa/displayArticleBibliography?atomid=687
http://www.goiam.org/territories.asp?c=2648
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USArandolph.htm
http://www.firn.edu/civiced/games/faces/randolph.html