Philip Randolph: A Brief Biography

Philip Randolph was one of the most influential African American leaders of the twentieth century during his time. He was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida, and spent his early years in during his life in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1907 he was selected as valedictorian from the cook men Institute. He actually moved to Harlem in 1911 and worked as the elevator operator while he was taking courses at a City College of New York and New York University. A. Philip Randolph first planned to March on Washington during 1941 to protest against governmental hiring practices that forbid African-Americans from the federal employment. Randolph understood that this type of racial discrimination was the reason why they economic disparities

They argued that only through socialism and labor organization could the race be upgraded economically. For expressing such sentiments, the Department of Justice labeled the Messenger "the most able and the most dangerous of all the Negro publications." Later, as the Messenger began publishing the work of young black poets and authors, a critic called it "one of the most brilliantly edited magazines in the history of Negro journalism." n 1917 Randolph and Owen began publishing the Messenger magazine with the slogan the "only magazine of scientific radicalism in the world published by Negroes." Although they were pacifists and were briefly jailed for their opposition to the First World War, the partners concluded that only force, economic or physical, could secure full citizenship rights for African Americans. They argued that only through socialism and labor organization could the race be upgraded economically. For expressing such sentiments, the Department of Justice labeled