Summary

A. Philip Randolph was born in Florida, to a minister and a seamstress. Though their family was poor, they were respectable and well-mannered. He grew up to be an upstanding man.

Randolph moved to Harlem and started a racial magazine that brought communism to the black community there. He opposed World War I and the Back-to-Africa movement. He consistently asked himself questions about how to create a force for change without being corrupted by power. He was public-spirited in his focus on bringing others together in order to better everyone's quality of life.

He started many labor organizations and unions, most notably for the Pullman Company. This was a challenge, as unionizing attempts had been beaten back by the company quite a number of times already. However, he used his charisma and convinced workers to fight for their own dignity. He also refused the...