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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

ASA PHILIP RANDOLPH

. Born in Crescent City, Florida on April 15, 1889, the son of an African Methodist Episcopal minister.
. Graduated from Cookman Institute, a Methodist Missionary School in 1907
. Moved to Harlem in 1911
. Met his close friend, Chandler Owen, and they formed an organization called "The Brotherhood of Labor" that was set up to organize Black workers.
. Married the former Lucille Green, a graduate of Howard University and a school teacher in 1913.
. Joined the Socialist Party.
. A co-founder of the "Messenger," the only magazine of scientific radicalism in the world published by Blacks in 1917.
. Urged Blacks not to fight in World War I.
. Organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters at an Elks Hall in 1925.
. Took on the powerful Pullman Company and forced it to bargain with its porters.
. Spoke at the Founding Conference of the Negro Labor Committee, July 20, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan, and announced that after leving their convention, the first meeting between the Pullman Company and his union was to be in Chicago.
. Forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 8802, and named a Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to enforce it after announcing that a March on Washington was going to be held in 1941.
. Won another Executive Order (9981) in 1948 from President Harry S. Truman to ban discrimination in the armed forces and in federal employment.
. Became the first Black to become a vice president of the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO in 1955.
. Organized the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for the civil rights bill.
. Founder of the Negro American Labor Council in 1959, an organization that had a job in presenting the Black workers' demands to the labor movement, thus keeping Black people and organized labor working together and also working for common goals.
. Led 250,000 people in a March on Washington in 1963 to demand "Jobs and Freedom" for Blacks.
. Projected the idea of the Freedom Budget which proposed an annual Federal expenditure of $18.5 billion for ten years to wipe out poverty. His program called for full employment and a guaranteed income, the rebuilding of our cities, and the provision of superior schools. 
. Announced the establishment of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1965 that was given the task of enlisting community leaders in a broad study of conditions that create perpetual poverty. Today, the Institute is engaged in voter education and voter registration projects.
. Became President-Emeritus of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1968 - the union he built.
. Passed away in New York City on May 16. 1979, at the age of 90.
. A. Philip Randolph is be memorialized by the people of Harlem and his longtime friends at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on May 29, 1979.

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[[image - headshot photograph of Asa Philip Randolph]] [[5 images around page]] [[image 1 - photograph of people at service]] [image 2 - photograph of two men]] [[image 3 - photograph of two men in suits]] [[image 4 - photograph of group of people]] [[image 5 - photograph of three people]]