A. Philip Randolph Quotes


It is better to die fighting than to live begging.


Citations

A. Philip Randolph, 1889-1979, President, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Quoted in Theodore G. Bilbo, Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

Related Quotes

In the attack on Fort Wagner, the color bearer was killed as was the Commanding Officer, Colonel Shaw. Carney raised the flag and led the men up the sand wall into the Confederate midst. They were vastly outnumbered and then retreated. Carney was the first Black to win the Medal of Honor.


Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the phrase in his Third Inaugural Address {32529}. But the earliest expression that we have found is the Mexican leader Emiliano Zapata {46999} Franklin Delano Roosevelt later used the phrase in his Third Inaugural Address {32529}. But the earliest expression that we have found is the Mexican leader Emiliano Zapata {46999}. This was one of the great quotations to come out of the Spanish Revolution. It inspired freedom loving people the world over, then and through this day.


This line was used in the WPA Federal Theater Project. The play was closed down, because the State Department was distressed that the Federal Theater quoting heads of State might be insulting to the world leaders. Mussolini was another character in the play and he was depicted as the boorish thug that he turned out to be. It was that which offended the government officials who closed the show before it could open. FDR used a similar line 6 years later. See {32529} . Dolores Ibarruri in the Spanish Civil War is quoted with a similar phrase at about the same time. See {604321}


A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph
  • Born: April 15, 1889
  • Died: May 16, 1979
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Activist