Asa Philip Randolph (15 April 1889 – 16 May 1979) was a leader in the Civil Rights movement, the American labor movement, and various socialist parties.
Biography[]
Asa Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida in 1889, the son of a Methodist minister, and in 1911 he moved to Harlem, New York City. In 1914 he co-founded the Messenger, an outspoken magazine with radical views on racial and economic issues. In 1925, he became the first president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and after a long campaign finally gained recognition for his union and a contract with the Pullman Company in 1937. As US involvement in World War II deepened, his threat to lead a March on Washington contributed to the end of race restrictions on employment in the defense ministries in June 1941. As president of the Non-Violent Civil Disobedience League against Military Segregation, his activities helped to persuade President Harry S. Truman to end segregation in the armed forces in 1948. In 1955, he helped to reunite the AFL with the CIO, becoming a vice-president of the combined AFL-CIO. In 1963, with Martin Luther King, Jr., he helped to organize the March on Washington, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations ever held. He died in 1979.