A. Philip Randolph and the Struggle for Civil Rights

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CORNELIUS L. BYNUM A.PHILIPRANDOLPH ANDTHESTRUGGLE FORCIVILRIGHTS A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH A.PHILIPRANDOLPH ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE ANDTHESTRUGGLE FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS FORCIVILRIGHTS A. Philip Randolph’s career as a trade unionist and civil rights activist fundamentally shaped the course of black protest in the mid-twentieth century. Standing alongside W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and others at the center of the cultural renaissance and political radicalism that shaped communities such as Harlem in the 1920s and into the 1930s, Randolph fashioned an understanding of social justice that reflected a deep awareness of how race complicated class concerns, especially among black laborers. Examining Randolph’s work in lobbying for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatening to lead a march on Washington in 1941, and establishing the Fair Employment Practice Committee, Cornelius L. Bynum shows that Randolph’s push for African American equality took place within a broader progressive program of industrial reform. Some of Randolph’s pioneering plans for engineering change—which served as foundational strategies in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—included direct mass action, nonviolent civil disobedience, and purposeful coalitions between black and white workers. Bynum interweaves biographical information on Randolph with details on how he gradually shifted his thinking about race and class, full citizenship rights, industrial organization, trade unionism, and civil rights protest throughout his activist career. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY University of Illinois Press Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield www.press.uillinois.edu Cover: A. Philip Randolph and others demanding equal rights for African Americans in the military, New York City. Negro Labor Committee Photograph Collection, ca. 1950s. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundation. Cover Design by Frank Gutbrod A volume in The New Black Studies Series, edited by Darlene Clark Hine and Dwight A. McBride Cornelius L. Bynum is an assistant professor of history at Purdue University. “Relating Randolph’s racial, economic, and political thought to his efforts to address injustice, Bynum does an excellent job of positioning Randolph’s ideology with that of his contemporaries on the political left. This study is ideal for students and scholars of twentieth-century African American history, labor history, and race relations.” —Cary D. Wintz, editor of African American Political Thought, 1890–1930: Washington, Du Bois, Garvey, and Randolph AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS BYNUM ILLINOIS ISBN 978-0-252-07764-7 A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH ...