A.Phillip+Randolph

Asa Phillip Randolph was a leader in the African-American civil rights movement and the American labor movement. He organized and led the first predominantly Negro labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. During World War II, Randolph led the March on Washington Movement, which convinced Franklin Delano Roosevelt to desegregate production-plants for military supplies during World War II. In 1963, Randolph was the head of the March on Washington, during which Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Asa Randolph inspired the Freedom budget, which aimed to deal with the economic problems facing the Negro community, particularly workers and the unemployed.



Randolph was born on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City, Florida. His father was Reverend James William Randolph, who was a tailor, as well as a minister at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her mother was Elizabeth Robinson Randolph, who worked as a seamstress. In 1891, he and his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, which had a much more thriving African American community. Asa had a brother named James, and they were both good students. They attended the Cookman Institute in East Jacksonville, which for years was the only academic high school in Florida for African Americans. He was one of the most visible spokesmen for African-American civil rights during the civil rights movement. Asa Phillip Randolph did a lot of work with labor organizations as well, having organized a union of elevator operators in New York City in 1917. He was called the most dangerous black in America. He won the fight to ban discrimination in the armed forces.