Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was a leader in the African American civil-rights movement and the American labor movement. Randolph was born April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida, the second son of the Rev. James William Randolph, a tailor and minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Elizabeth Robinson Randolph, a skilled seamstress. Randolph attended the Cookman Institute in East Jacksonville, for years the only academic high school in Florida for African Americans. Randolph excelled in literature, drama and public speaking. He also starred on the school's baseball team, sang solos with its choir and was valedictorian of the 1907 graduating class. After graduation, Randolph worked odd jobs and devoted his time to singing, acting and reading. Reading W. E. B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk convinced him that the fight for social equality was most important. At the age of 21 in 1910, Randolph joined the Socialist Party of America. He moved to New York City in 1911 where he met Chandler Owen who shared Randolph's intellectual interests and close collaborator. In 1913, Randolph married Mrs. Lucille Campbell Green who also shared his socialist views. With the help of the Socialist Party Of America Randolph and Chandler Owen founded the Messenger, a radical monthly magazine, which campaigned against lynching, opposed U.S. participation in World War I, urged African Americans to resist being drafted, to fight for an integrated society, and recommended they join radical unions. Randolph had some experience in labor organization having organized a union of elevator operators in New York City. In 1917Randolph ran on the Socialist ticket for New York State Comptroller in 1920 and for Secretary of State of New York in 1922, but was unsuccessful. In 1919, he became president of the National Brotherhood of Workers of America, a union that organized amongst African-American shipyard and dockworkers in the Tidewater region of Virginia. The union dissolved in 1921, under pressure from the American Federation of Labor. In 1925, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and was elected president. This was the first serious effort to form a labor institution for employees of the Pullman Company, which was a major employer of African Americans and manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. The railroads had expanded dramatically in the early 20th century, and the jobs offered relatively good employment at a time of widespread racial discrimination, however, the company took advantage of the employees. After years of bitter struggle, the Pullman Company finally began to negotiate with the unionin 1935, and agreed to a contract with them in 1937. This gained employees $2,000,000 in pay increases, a shorter workweek, and overtime pay. Randolph maintained the union’s affiliation with the American Federation of Labor through the 1955 AFL-CIO merger. Randolph led the March on Washington Movement, which convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II. In 1947, Randolph, along with colleague Grant Reynolds, renewed efforts to end discrimination in the armed services, forming the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service, later renamed the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience. After the war, Randolph pressured President Harry S. Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, ending segregation in the armed services.
Famous Quote - “A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.”