(1889 – 1979) Born in Florida, Randolph migrated to New York City in 1911, where he attended City College, becoming a socialist. In 1917 he established the radical Harlem, NY journal, The Messenger, and made his name as a writer and orator. Recruited by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the union of the Pullman Company’s African American porters, he fought from 1925 to 1937 to gain recognition for the Brotherhood from both the American Federation of Labor and from Pullman. Following his success, Randolph, abandoning socialism, became a national spokesperson for civil rights. He organized a March on Washington in 1940, which he called off after President Roosevelt agreed to end discrimination within the government and in industries with federal contracts. He later helped persuade Truman to issue an executive order barring discrimination in the military. Later, he issued the call for the March on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963, bringing together over 250,000 marchers to back President Kennedy’s civil-rights legislation.