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A. Philip Randolph was born April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. He migrated in 1911 to Harlem, becoming a prominent young intellectual -- one of the "race radicals" drawn to "the Negro capital of the world."
He co-founded a journal, The Messenger, which fiercely opposed American participation in World War I, thundered against lynchings, protested the treatment of black soldiers and advocated socialism and labor unionism as solutions to racial injustice. In 1925, Pullman porters sought Randolph's help in organizing their workforce into an independent labor union. The powerful Pullman Company had always contemptuously silenced criticism of its treatment of porters and, for the next twelve years, opposed recognizing the new Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). It was the longest and bitterest battle of Randolph's career -- one of the most rigorous tests of his convictions and character. By 1927 the BSCP claimed a membership of 5,700. Still, ongoing organizational and educational effort was necessary to retain and increase membership, while simultaneously opposing the Pullman Company. Effective January 1927, BSCP leaders instituted an internal password and sign associated with porters' everyday mores of racial pride, religion and parental obligation. No porter without his 1927 card was eligible to receive the password ("SOLIDARITY") and sign (left arm extended downward in a clenched fist). Not until 1937 did the BSCP win its epic fight to represent the porters. After the passage of enabling labor laws, the Pullman executives finally condescended to bargain with Randolph and his negotiating team. |
Click on the links below to view the images in this part of the exhibit:
Lucille Campbell Green, ca. 1900 Contents page, The Messenger, November 1917 New York State Socialist Party platform, 1921 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters graphic, ca. 1920s Pullman Porters Benefit Association certificate, 1926 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters password instructions, 1927 |
Created on March 9, 2001; last updated on September 19, 2006.
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