Randolph, A. Philip (1889–1979)

Starting from the National Negro Congress in 1936, Randolph became a leader within the American labor party, socialist, and civil rights movements. He organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, which became the first predominantly black labor union and motivated President Franklin D. Roosevelt to end discrimination in defense jobs. He organized the prayer pilgrimage in 1957 for the civil rights bill, the March on Washington in 1963, and advocated the Freedom Budget in 1966 that would fight poverty.