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A. Philip Randolph: Leader of First Successful Black Labor Union
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 Feb. 1, 2023| BLACK HISTORY MONTH | (Click image to enlarge) The organizer of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech was also the leader of the first successful black labor union. For A. Philip Randolph [pictured third from left], labor and civil rights were one and the same. The influential twentieth-century labor and civil rights leader would no doubt have mixed feelings about the state of labor in the United States today. On the one hand, union density has declined precipitously over the last half-century, from roughly one-third to one-tenth of all workers. On the other hand, there’s been an upsurge in union organizing in recent years, particularly among black and brown workers. As the leader of the first successful black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Randolph was committed to organizing black workers, particularly at a time when many unions excluded African Americans. Jacobin PHOTO/NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
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