HR0749 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0749 LRB101 20626 MST 70272 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, A. Philip Randolph was born Asa Philip Randolph on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City, Florida; he was the second son of James Randolph, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Elizabeth, both of whom were staunch supporters of equal rights for African Americans and general human rights; in 1891, the Randolph family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where A. Philip would live for most of his youth; he attended the Cookman Institute, one of the first institutions of higher education for blacks in the country; and

WHEREAS, In 1911, after graduating from Cookman, A. Philip Randolph moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City; during this time, he studied English literature and sociology at City College; he held a variety of jobs, including as an elevator operator, a porter, and a waiter, and developed his rhetorical skills; in 1912, he founded an employment agency called the Brotherhood of Labor as a way to organize black workers; his efforts began when he was working as a waiter on a coastal steamship, and he organized a rally against their poor living conditions; and

WHEREAS, In 1913, A. Philip Randolph married Howard University graduate and beauty shop entrepreneur Lucille Green; shortly thereafter, he organized a drama society in Harlem known as Ye Friends of Shakespeare and played several roles in subsequent productions; in 1917, he co-founded a political magazine, The Messenger, and began publishing articles calling for the inclusion of more blacks in the Armed Forces and war industry and demanding higher wages; he also tried to unionize African American shipyard workers in Virginia and elevator operators in New York City; and

WHEREAS, After World War I ended, A. Philip Randolph became a lecturer at the Rand School of Social Science; in the early 1920s, he unsuccessfully ran for office in New York State and became more convinced than ever that unions would be the best way for African Americans to improve their situation; and

WHEREAS, In 1925, A. Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and served as its president; he sought to gain the union's official inclusion in the American Federation of Labor, the affiliates of which, at that time, frequently barred African Americans from membership; the BSCP met with resistance primarily from the Pullman Company, which was the largest employer of blacks at that time; A. Philip persisted and won membership in the AFL in 1937, making the BSCP the first African American union in the United States; and

WHEREAS, During the 1940s, A. Philip Randolph twice used mass protests as a means of influencing the policies of the federal government; he planned a march on Washington to protest discrimination in the war industry workforce but called off the march after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order that banned racial discrimination at government defense factories and established the first Fair Employment Practices Committee; he also organized the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, which eventually led President Harry S. Truman to issue a 1948 executive order banning racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS, In 1955, A. Philip Randolph became a vice president of the newly merged entity AFL-CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations); he continued to protest the systemic racial prejudice he found in the organization; in 1957, he organized a prayer pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the delay of school desegregation being implemented in the South; he also organized the Youth Marches for Integrated Schools and formed the Negro American Labor Council in 1959; and

WHEREAS, In 1963, A. Philip Randolph was a principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, during which he spoke to an integrated crowd of nearly 250,000 supporters; he shared the podium with Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech; A. Philip and Dr. King were among the handful of civil rights leaders to meet with President John F. Kennedy after the march; and

WHEREAS, The following year, A. Philip Randolph was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson; soon after, he co-founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization aimed at studying the causes of poverty; in 1965, at a White House conference, he proposed a poverty-elimination program called the Freedom Budget for All Americans; and

WHEREAS, A. Philip Randolph resigned from his more than 40-year tenure as president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1968; he also retired from public life and spent the next few years writing his autobiography; he died in bed at his New York City home on May 16, 1979 at age 90; he was cremated, and his ashes were interred at the A. Philip Randolph Institute in Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, A. Philip Randolph had a significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement from the 1930s onward; the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama was influenced by his methods of nonviolent confrontation; nationwide, the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s used tactics pioneered by him, such as encouraging African Americans to vote as a bloc, mass voter registration, and training activists for nonviolent direct action; many buildings, streets, and trains have been named in his honor, including the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago's Pullman Historic District; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the life of A. Philip Randolph, a trailblazing leader, organizer, and social activist who championed equitable labor rights for African American communities during the 20th century, and we honor his legacy.