TAMPA, Fla. — Throughout February, we’ll be highlighting historical African American figures who’ve had an impact in their fields, whether that be art, music, politics or sports. All of them have a Florida connection.
Darryl Paulson is a professor emeritus of government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and is an expert on the Civil Rights Movement. He’ll be helping me tell some of these stories.
In our third story, we’re highlighting Asa Philip Randolph, known as the spokesperson for the Black working class and a leader in the desegregation movement.
"A. Philip Randolph was born and raised in Florida but left Florida at about the age of 22 because, like many Blacks at that time, he thought that there were no opportunities for Blacks in the state of Florida or throughout the south," said Professor Paulson.
So, Randolph moved to New York City, where he quickly gained a reputation as a natural-born leader.
“He formed what became his landmark union: the porter of sleeping car workers,” explained Professor Paulson. As a union leader, he represented thousands of African American railway workers to obtain better working conditions.
"His first claim to civil rights fame came in 1941 when he tried to organize a march on Washington, D.C. and along with a couple of his colleagues, they threatened to march on Washington, D.C., protesting the fact that the federal government wouldn’t let Blacks work in the defense industry,” said Professor Paulson.
Through that, he pressured President Franklin Roosevelt to sign an executive order to end discrimination in the employment of workers in the defense industries.
Seven years later, in 1948, he took it a step forward when he pressured President Harry Truman to end segregation in our military, meaning that all soldiers - regardless of race - would fight alongside each other for the same flag.
“He would bring up this notion of a march on Washington, D.C. once again, and this became the famous march on Washington in 1963 where a quarter of a million - mostly Black individuals - came to Washington, D.C. This is where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech. This led directly to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the two most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in history,” explained Professor Paulson.
A. Philip Radolph, a individual that helped to change the trajectory of our country because he knew what the United States could be, which is why he's not just Black history, he's Florida history."
