A. Philip Randolph biography

Synopsis

Early Life

A. Philip Randolph was born Asa Philip Randolph on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. He was the second son of James Randolph, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Elizabeth, both of whom were staunch supporters of equal rights for African Americans. In 1891, the Randolph family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where Asa would live for most of his youth, and where he would eventually attend the Cookman Institute, one of the first institutions of higher education for blacks in the country.

After graduating from Cookman, in 1911, Randolph moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the hopes of becoming an actor. During this time, he studied English literature and sociology at City College; held a variety of jobs, including as an elevator operator, a porter and a waiter; and developed his rhetorical skills. In 1912, Randolph made one of his earliest significant political moves when he founded an employment agency called the Brotherhood of Labor with Chandler Owen—a Columbia University law student who shared Randolph's socialist political views—as a means of organizing black workers. He began his efforts when, while working as a waiter on a coastal steamship, he organized a rally against their impoverished living conditions.

In 1913, Randolph married an intellectual Harvard graduate named Lucille Green, and shortly thereafter organized the Shakespearean Society in Harlem. He would play several title roles in subsequent productions by the group. In 1917, during World War I, Randolph and Chandler Owen founded a political magazine, The Messenger, and began publishing articles calling for the inclusion of more blacks in the armed forces and war industry, and demanding higher wages. Randolph also tried to unionize African-American shipyard workers in Virginia and elevator operators in New York City during this time.

After the war ended, Randolph lectured at the Rand School of Social Science. In 1920 and 1922, he unsuccessfully ran for offices in New York State on the Socialist Party ticket. By this time, Randolph had also become more convinced than ever that unions would be the best way for African Americans to improve their lot.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In 1925, Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Serving as its president, he sought to gain the union's official inclusion in the American Federation of Labor, the affiliates of which, at that time, frequently barred African Americans from membership. The BSCP met with resistance primarily from the Pullman Company, which was the largest employer of blacks at that time.