A. Philip Randolph, as described in “The Cauldron of the Home Front,” made perhaps one of the biggest contributions to race relations in America during World War II, being one of the key causes for Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802. In light of his admirable steadfastness before Roosevelt during his march on Washington, I was motivated to learn more about him.
Randolph was born in 1889 as the son of a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a seamstress. Due to his father’s influence, Randolph learned from very early on that he should value character over color, and he learned from his mother the value of education and self-defense. This value of education was evident when he was the valedictorian of the class of 1907 for the Cookman Institute, the only academic high school available to African Americans in Florida. He also notably focused on and specialized in literature and public speaking during his time at school, which proved to be influential later on during his career.
Randolph’s interest in literature led him to borrow many ideas from Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, especially his desire for social equality among the races. His interests in economic and political writers led him to associate with the Socialist Party, and along with Chandler Owen founding the socialist magazine The Messenger, bringing widespread attention and praise. This magazine advocated for increased black participation in the military and war industry, and the views here were a refreshing departure from the NAACP or Garvey’s ideas (which you may remember from previous units).
In 1925, Randolph was approached to found and become the leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which later became the first African American labor organization chartered by the AFL. Randolph was specifically chosen because his lack of connection with the Pullman Company, which meant that he would not be able to be corrupted by the power of the company.
The part of Randolph’s career highlighted by Freedom From Fear occurred when Roosevelt initially refused to issue an order ending segregation in the defense industry, prompting Randolph to summon 10,000 African American citizens to march on Washington. The number was raised to 100,000, and Roosevelt had no choice but to listen to Randolph, issuing Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941.
In 1947, Randolph formed the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation in order to denounce public cooperation with a still segregated army. Requiring black support for the 1948 election and in fear of civil disobedience, Truman ordered to end military discrimination, yet another step towards improving race relations (though the fight was yet very far from over).
Through the episodes of Roosevelt and Truman, Randolph served as a role model for future demonstrations that nonviolent protests were the way to go. Randolph founded the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 1950 and significantly cooperated with Martin Luther King Junior, a man people have hopefully at least heard about. He played a considerable role in the Civil Rights movement, rallying hundreds of thousands in the Marsh on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
Having not heard about A. Philip Randolph before reading this chapter of Freedom From Fear, I found it very enlightening to learn about one of the biggest figures in African American history. His boldness to stand his ground against Roosevelt proved to be one of the key turning points for race relations during World War II, resulting in what Freedom From Fear describes as having “set the nation back on the freedom road that Abraham Lincoln had opened” (768).
I thought it was very interesting how Randolph was fighting for civil rights before the Civil Rights movement even started. His march on Washington assembled so many activities, and was successful. We usually associate Martin Luther King Jr. with the accumulation of civil rights, but Randolph was doing this before he was. The way that he desegregated the defense industries and the army allowed for the Civil Rights movement to be successful. With segregation not being allowed in the army, there was a gradual buildup to allow blacks to be treated equally, all thanks to Randolph.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://newrepublic.com/article/78402/military-integration-civil-rights-report