Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters

Asa Philip Randolph

During the 1900’s A. Philip Randolph became a very powerful African American leader and advocate for the African American communities. Randolph wanted for the blacks to have a better future and for the whites to respect the human rights they had as human beings and citizens of America. Before Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X made their mark A. Philip Randolph had paved the way for them to succeed in fighting for the minorities and the rights that belonged to them. Randolph was the key to the beginning of the civil rights movements and also created the first main organization black labor union. In the dissertation I would examine what led Randolph to become an activist and fight for equality in labor and civil

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was found in 1925 by Randolph and also became the first African American labor union to be united to the American Federation of Labor. Randolph’s goal for this organization was to improve the wages and working condition for the workers of the Pullman Company. The Pullman Company had many African American workers waiting on white passengers and were paid very little and worked long hours. Randolph believed that the existence of prejudice and discrimination in the world caused for many African Americans and other minorities to live in poverty. Several years later Pullman finally gave in and decided to negotiate with the workers and also unite with Randolph’s organization, so that they can protect the rights of their workers. Another organization that he founded was The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Randolph along with Roy Wilkins and Arnold Aronson founded this organization in 1950. Wilkins and Aronson were directors of major organization as well and decided to join Randolph in this organization to fight for social justice and civil rights. They worked hard to persuade the Congress in passing legislations that would protect the civil and human rights of all American not matter of their race and ethnic background. The March on

“The Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) was another order that was also authorized to investigate complaints of job discrimination based on race, color, creed, or national origin in defense industries receiving government contracts and to require antidiscrimination clauses in defense contracts. The FEPC held hearings but lacked punitive powers. In 1943 President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9346 establishing a new FEPC in the Office of Emergency Management. The 1943 FEPC’s jurisdiction included all government contractors. Its authority was expected to encompass discrimination in labor union membership and employment. The FEPC expired in 1946 and in altered form, the idea of an FEPC evolved into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issued two executive orders. The first order was Executive Order 9980 instituted fair employment practices in the civilian agencies of the federal government. Executive Order 9981 directed the armed forces to provide “equality of treatment and opportunity for all personnel without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin” and established a presidential committee chaired by former Solicitor General Charles Fahy to monitor