Asa Philip Randolph
Posted by: 
overrover
N 29° 25.958 W 081° 30.739
17R E 450308 N 3256028
Asa Philip Randolph was born April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Fla., the second son of the Rev. James William Randolph, a tailor and ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and Elizabeth Robinson Randolph, a skilled seamstress.
Waymark Code: WMJ30
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 07/23/2006
Views: 89
"Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won, it is never given; it is exacted."
Asa Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida on April 15, 1889 to Rev. James Williams and Elizabeth Robinson Randolph. His father was a minister at this church where Randolph attended as a youth. In 1925 he became the founder and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and remained president until 1968. He founded a group that later became the League of Non Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. He was the first president (1960-66) of the Negro American Labor Council. Randolph was the originator of two major marches on Washington. One was held in 1941; the other was the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom", which brought more than 200,000 people to the capital on August 28, 1963. Two years later he formed the A. Philip Randolph Institute for community leaders to study the causes of poverty. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Johnson in 1964. He died May 16, 1979 in New York City. In 1989 Randolph became the second Union President to be honored on a U. S. Postage Stamp.
"No individual did more to help the poor, the disposed and the working class in the United States and around the world."
From his father, Randolph learned that color was less important than a person's character and conduct. From his mother, he learned the importance of education and of defending oneself physically, if necessary.