JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Philip Randolph, the first president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was born in Crescent City, Florida, and grew up in Jacksonville.
The son of a Methodist minister, he attended the City College of New York, and later published The Messenger, a radical black magazine.
The 1937 contract between the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Pullman Company cut working hours, increased pay, and improved working conditions.
Randolph was also a major influence in ending discrimination in defense plants and segregation of the U.S. military.
He was director of the August 28, 1963 March on Washington, D.C. - the largest civil rights demonstration in American history.
Source:
State Archives/Florida Memory.
