A Philip Randolph was born the son of a Methodist Episcopal minister in Crescent City, Florida. In many respects he proved himself to be the most remarkable Black leader in American history.His two planned marches on Washington, D.C. were two of the most brilliant power plays ever performed by any American leader Black or White in American history. These maneuvers were done in spite of the pressures put on him by two different presidents, F.D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. When summoned to the White House by FDR to get him to cancel his plans for a march on Washington, D.C. during the Second World War, he defied the president and came out the winner. Roosevelt explained to Randolph that he was doing the best that he could in securing jobs for Blacks and breaking down discrimination in the Defense Dept and said that he would do more. “But there must be no pressure; the march must be called off," said Roosevelt. In spite of the pressure put on him by the president, his wife Eleanor, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Assistant Secretary of War Randolph would not back down. He said that he could and would muster 100,000 Black men and women and march on Washington. The outcome of the confrontation resulted in FDR signing Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination in war industries and apprenticeship programs. This order was signed and issued on June 25, 1941. Only then did Randolph call off the march. He championed nonviolent and direct action means to obtain his goals. ”Nothing stirs and shapes public sentiment like physical action.” He said. Organized labor and organized capital have long since recognized this. This is why the major weapon of labor is the strick.” Randolph talked the talk and walked the walk. He went to jail in 1918 for verbally insulting federal agents. For twelve years he tenaciously fought the Pullman Company and eventually won the recognition for the Brotherhood of Pullman Pullman Car Porters. Another accomplishment was against President Harry S. Truman. In 1947 Randolph and a colleague Grant Reynolds, won out in a confrontation with President Harry S. Truman. Randolph and Reynolds put forth their efforts to end discrimination in the armed services. They formed a committee against Jim Crow in the military service. This committee was later named the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience. This pressured Truman to the point that he issued Executive Order 9981. This order abolished racial segragation in the armed forces of America. In 1950 Randolf, Arnold Aronson a leader of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, and Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, founded the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. (LCCR) This organization proved to be a major civil rights law since 1947. After years of threatening to march on Washington for jobs and freedom he finally got it with the aid of Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr. This march attributed, by no small means to gain the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Here, Black and White Americans stood united and witnessed MLK giving his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Click on the link below to see a video and to see his Bio. More on A. P. Randolph http://www.apri.org/ht/d/sp/i/225/pid/226 More on A. P. Randolph FACTS ON RANDOLPH He led 250,000 people in the historic 1963 March on Washington. He spoke for all the dispossessed: Blacks, poor Whites, Puerto Ricans, Indians and Mexican Americans. He won the fight to ban discrimination in the armed forces. He organized the 1957-prayer pilgrimage for the civil rights bill. He was President of the Institute, bearing his name, and President Emeritus of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the union he built.