Black History Month
The Gentle Warrior: A. Philip Randolph
By KEITH EDWARDS
Asa Philip Randolph was one of the
greatest and most effective civil rights
and labor leaders of the 20th century.
Randolph was on the leading edge of
social and political change. Although
Randolph had many successes, he also
had many failures.
By the early 1920s, he had run for
political office on three different occa-
sions only to be defeated every time.
When Randolph arrived in New York
in 1911, he put himself in the thick of
the struggle for freedom and equality
for Black Americans. A group of Pull-
man porters came to Randolph asking
for his assistance in gaining the right
to bargain for better wages and work-
ing conditions. The Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters was launched
Aug. 25, 1925. Through many attacks
from the Pullman Company, lack of
support by the law, failed mediation
and arbitration, the workers prepared
for a strike. The strike was called off at
the last moment.
The Brotherhood was now in a
struggle to survive without funds, little
support from the outside, and in the
FEBRUARY 3, 2012
middle of the Great
Depression. Ran-
dolph traveled on
Brotherhood busi-
ness with meager
funds but with one
strong message
“Black men are able
to measure up.” This
led to winning an
election, in 1935,
supervised by the
National Mediation
Board. That same
year, the AFL reversed its position and
granted an international charter to the
Brotherhood. After two years of nego-
tiations the Pullman Company signed
a contract.
Prior to WWII, after being told by
President Roosevelt to make him do
something regarding the discrimina-
tion in American factories, Randolph
traveled the country in an effort to
unite Blacks against being shut out of
well-paying factory jobs. All over the
U.S., Blacks began forming commit-
tees to “March on Washington” in
protest. Finally FDR signed an execu-
tive order in June of
1941. This was the be-
ginning of ‘fair employ-
ment practices.’ Nearly
seven years later Ran-
dolph persuaded Presi-
dent Truman to sign an
executive order ending
discrimination in the mil-
itary and federal civil
service jobs.
By 1955, A. Philip
Randolph was well re-
spected as a relentless
advocate for justice and equality for
Blacks, Mexican Americans, Native
Americans, Puerto Ricans, and poor
Whites — those who were disenfran-
chised. That same year Randolph be-
came a vice-president of the AFL-CIO
Executive Council. Randolph had put
organized labor in a frontline role in
the civil rights revolution. He believed
that Black or White, workers and their
labor unions are the key forces in any
political effort to redistribute society’s
wealth more justly. Though Randolph
was well aware that many unions dis-
criminated, he continued in his convic-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
O PEN
F ORUM
tion that only through the organization
of the workers into unions could soci-
ety be changed.
Randolph was approached by
James Farmer (CORE), John Lewis
(SNCC), Martin Luther King Jr.
(SCLC), Roy Wilkins (NAACP) and
Whitney Young (Urban League) to or-
ganize the 1963 March on Washing-
ton. Randolph agreed, if Bayard
Rustin could assist him in the planning
and mobilization. Somewhere between
250,000 and 400,000 marchers at-
tended the event, where MLK Jr. gave
his “I Have A Dream “ speech. In
1964, Randolph was awarded the Pres-
idential Medal of Freedom by Presi-
dent Johnson.
(Editor’s Note: Keith Edwards is an
international representative of the In-
ternational Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers and a former business man-
ager of Portland-based IBEW Local
48.)
Eryn Slack hired at
Labor’s Community
Service Agency
Eryn Slack has been hired as a part-
time office manager for Labor’s Com-
munity Service Agency.
Slack has been in the labor move-
ment since 2007, where she left a job
as a waitress and shop steward at the
Portland Hilton for a position with
UNITE HERE Local 9, which repre-
sents workers at the hotel.
Last year, UNITE HERE asked her
to take a resource navigator workshop
conducted by Labor’s Community
Service Agency. The program is de-
signed to help union activists assist
members of their union during any dif-
ficult times they may encounter.
“Because of this partnership, our
union became stronger and our mem-
bers healthier,” Slack said.
Slack became “passionately in-
volved” with the resource navigator
program, joining its steering commit-
tee. “Our vision is to have trained staff
and membership navigators at every
union, so a union member in need
doesn’t have to look far for help,” she
said.
As office manager of Labor’s Com-
munity Service Agency, Slack joined
Office and Professional Employees Lo-
cal 11.
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