A. Philip Randolph - March on Washington

March on Washington

Context

Most people associate the phrase with the 1963 march in which Randolph was one of the organizers and leaders. However, he first used the term in 1941 threatening President Roosevelt with a protest march in the middle of WWII unless Roosevelt ordered the discrimination in defense industries and the military to cease. FDR and his administration did much to improve the situation but came far short of equality. Randolph organized the March on Washington Movement in 1941 and in negotiations throughout the war, this was his trump card. Progress was made but slowly. Randolph maneuvered a fine line as he wanted to do nothing to hurt the war effort. Some severely criticized Randolph’s tactics which were quite effective. Finally in 1963, 22 years after Randolph had first threatened such a march, it finally took place, leading to the Civil Rights Act of the following year. See {625657} for a Southern racist description of Ranolph’s techniques and his victories.

Topics

Citations

A. Philip Randolph, 1889-1979, President, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1941

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

Linked Quotes

A. Philip Randolph

We demand that Negroes be employed on the basis of their skill and intelligence in all branches of our federal service in every public and private industry …. We demand equal education opportunities with equal access for the Negro student to all public tax-supported institutions. We demand the democratic right to vote without poll-taxes, white primaries and other devices which keep the majority of Southern Negroes a voteless group with no voice either in the selection of their representatives or a check on unjust public policies. We demand an end to segregation in transportation, in housing, in health and recreational facilities and in all other social service. We demand Negro and minority group representation on all administrative agencies so that these groups may help to determine policies for all people.

Note the early use of the term “March on Washington.” See {625658}.

Theodore G. Bilbo

A. Philip Randolph is the type who believes in force and who has bragged about the technique of force which he used in the threatened march on Washington in 1941. This was the time when he intimidated the President of the United States with the threat of riotous conditions in the Nation's Capital at a moment when the whole Nation was preparing for World War II. Using this method, he and his collaborators secured the President's signature to the famous Executive Order No. 8802, which was the birth of the un-American bastard known as the Fair Employment Practice Committee. The word "reason" is not in his vocabulary. He does not know how to plead or ask for anything that he wants for the Negro people. Using the communistic pattern, he vociferously and obstreperously DEMANDS.

Note the technique of labeling any attempt to obtain equal rights for Blacks communistic. The communists were exploiting the racism and hypocrisy of American race relations and supported most civil rights efforts. However Randolph and most other Black Civil Rights Leaders were not communists although some were.