We The People

June 27, 2013

Business, Education, Feature, Government, Politics

Americans will be grappling with a number of sensitive and critical issues throughout 2013 and beyond. Some new, some old and some never-ending – concerns about race, religion, violence, politics, guns, climate change, war and civic responsibility are just some of the issues that may polarize all or segments of the nation. We The People will bring awareness to different viewpoints in the hopes of educating its readership. Please be encouraged to join in and share your perspective.

On this Day

A. Philip Randolph, a leader in the African-American civil-rights movement, the American labor movement and socialist political parties. It was on this day that Randolph became the president of the first black labor union.

He organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly Black labor union. In the early civil-rights movement, Randolph led the March on Washington Movement, which convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II.

After the war Randolph pressured President Harry S. Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, ending segregation in the armed services.

In 1963, Randolph was the head of the March on Washington, which was organized by Bayard Rustin, at which Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. Randolph inspired the Freedom budget, sometimes called the “Randolph Freedom budget”, which aimed to deal with the economic problems facing the Black community, particularly workers and the unemployed. (Source: Wikipedia)