A. Philip Randolph

He met Lucille Campbell Green, a widow, who was a Howard University graduate with a keen interest in socialist politics. They got married in 1913. His wife was supportive of his activism and earned enough money to support them both, leaving him with ample time to devote to his socialist activities. They did not have any children.

He died on May 16, 1979 at the ripe old age of 90.

The A. Philip Randolph Career Academy in Philadelphia, and the A. Philip Randolph Career and Technician Center in Detroit are named in his honor.

He was born on April 15, 1889, as the second son of James William Randolph and his wife Elizabeth Robinson. His father, a tailor, was also a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, while his mother was a seamstress. He was raised in a thriving African American community in Florida.

His parents instilled in him a love for equality and freedom. He went to the Cookman Institute along with his brother where he proved to be a brilliant student excelling not only in academics, but also in sports, drama and music. He graduated in 1907.

For a while he harbored the dream of becoming an actor given his interest in drama and music. However, after graduation he had to work in a number of petty jobs as it was not possible for him to find meaningful jobs being a black.

He moved to New York City in 1911 where he enrolled at the City College to study English Literature and sociology. He worked at manual jobs during the day and attended classes at night.

He was an avid reader who read the works of social and political thinkers including Karl Marx and W. E. B. Du Bois, and was especially influenced by the latter’s book, ‘The Souls of Black Folk’.

He became acquainted with a like-minded person, Chandler Owen, a Columbia University law student, with whom he founded an employment agency called the Brotherhood of Labor in 1912 in an attempt to organize black workers.

Along with Owen he also founded a magazine, ‘The Messenger’ in 1917 after United States entered the World War I. Through this magazine which was started with the help of the Socialist Party of America, he called for more positions in the armed forces for blacks and also demanded higher wages for them.

After the war ended, he lectured at the Rand School of Social Science in New York. He also worked towards unionizing the black workers as he believed that unions were the best way for blacks to improve their condition.

He was made the president of the National Brotherhood of Workers of America in 1919. It was a union which was organized by the African American shipyard and dock workers in the Tidewater region of Virginia. The union, however, had to be dissolved in 1921 due to the pressure of the American Federation of Labor.

He founded and presided over The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) in 1925. Through his works with the first predominantly black labor union, he became one of the leaders in the civil rights movement in America.

He led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 which was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in the United States history. Thousands of Americans, most of them blacks, participated in the march which ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.