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Start Over Collection A. Philip Randolph, Civil Rights and Labor Leader, Papers Date range 1926
West Virginia and Regional History Center

A. Philip Randolph, Civil Rights and Labor Leader, Papers

0 Linear Feet Summary: 45 pages
Papers of Asa Philip Randolph, a prominent civil rights and labor leader, who founded and edited The Messenger, an influential black radical labor newspaper of the 1920s and who organized and presided over the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the only independent, viable black trade union in the American labor movement. Much of the correspondence deals with raising subscriptions for The Messenger, gaining an International Charter as an independent affiliate to the American Federation of Labor and the early organizing strike actions against the Pullman Company. This correspondence emphasizes the difficulties of convincing black workers of the feasibility of an independent fledgling black trade union; the necessity of organizing black workers for the benefit of the whole labor movement; and the challenge of maintaining jurisdictional independence from competing trade unions with predominantly white membership, such as the Hotel Workers union. These letters also reflect Randolph's desire to attain full civil rights for blacks.
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A. Philip Randolph, Civil Rights and Labor Leader, Papers 0 Linear Feet Summary: 45 pages

Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
Papers of Asa Philip Randolph, a prominent civil rights and labor leader, who founded and edited The Messenger, an influential black radical labor newspaper of the 1920s and who organized and presided over the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the only independent, viable black trade union in the American labor movement. Much of the correspondence deals with raising subscriptions for The Messenger, gaining an International Charter as an independent affiliate to the American Federation of Labor and the early organizing strike actions against the Pullman Company. This correspondence emphasizes the difficulties of convincing black workers of the feasibility of an independent fledgling black trade union; the necessity of organizing black workers for the benefit of the whole labor movement; and the challenge of maintaining jurisdictional independence from competing trade unions with predominantly white membership, such as the Hotel Workers union. These letters also reflect Randolph's desire to attain full civil rights for blacks.

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