biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1910–87)
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| biography:
| Institute head and civil-rights activist, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA. Schooled in literature and history at Cheyney State (Pennsylvania) and Wilberforce (Ohio) colleges, he joined the Young Communist League (1936) and became an organizer (1938). He also sang occasionally at a New York City nightclub with notables Josh White and Leadbelly. He left the Communist Party (1941), joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a non-violent anti-war group, and helped A Philip Randolph plan a threatened march on Washington to demand better job opportunities for blacks in the defence industry (1940–1). He served several jail terms in the 1940s: for conscientious objection during World War 2 (released 1945); for demonstrating in the American Indian independence movement; and for participating in a North Carolina ‘freedom ride’ (1947). He was involved in various pacifist movements (1947–55), then joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (1955) as Martin Luther King's special assistant, serving as the organizational co-ordinator for the SCLC March on Washington (1963). Named executive director of the newly founded A Philip Randoph Institute (1964–87), he worked to promote programmes to cure America's social and economic ills. Although over the years he advocated the orderly seizure of political power by activist blacks, white liberals, religious parties, and labour unions to effect a rebalance of national priorities, he never favoured black separatism. |
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