Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Feb. 27, 1992, edition 1 / Page 9
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BLACK HISTORY PROFILE A. Philip. Randolph When he died in a modest Harlem flat at age 90, Asa Philip Randolph, the "father of the civil rights movement," had never owned a car or a piece of property, but he had negotiated civil rights issues with five U.S. presidents, organized the largest African-American labor union in U.S. history, and organized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous March on Washington. Randolph was born in Crescent City, Fla., but grew up in Jack sonville, where his father was a minister of a small AME church. (He graduated in 1907 as class vale dictorian from the Cookman Insti tute, the first high school in Florida for African-Americans. In 1911 he left Jacksonville for New York City, where he would live and work for ,the rest of his life. In New York, he attended City College's evening school and, as a founding member of the Indepen- - dent Political Council, became interested in politics and joined the Juvlallal yj&l I j ao alt UlgdltlLvi, lie speaker and political activist. In 1914 he married Lucille Green, a Howard University gradu ate and former teacher who owned her own beauty salon in Harlem. It would be through her business and her devotion that Randolph would make it through hard times later in his career. They had no children, but enjoyed a 49-year loving rela tionship as spouses and friends until her death in 1963. It was through Lucille that he met Chandler Owenf_ a Virginia Union graduate who became his political ally and co-edi tor and publisher of the Messenger , a radical magazine the two founded in 1917. With financial assistance from Lucille's business, they founded the Messenger in November 1917 as a radical socialist magazine that spoke out against segregation, low wages and U.S. imperialism abroad. It also supported unionization of workers, Socialist Party candidates running for office, and a radical economic restructuring of U.S. soci ety. In 1918, Randolph and Owen were arrested in Cleveland by Jus tice Department officials for advo cating draft resistance during World War I and selling copies of their magazine. They werejaited, but soon released when a judge decided that they were dupes of the social ists and didn't really know what they were distributing. Believing . that they, as African-Americans, could not have written and pub lished the magazine themselves, the judge scolded them and let them go. Weeks later, the U.S. Post Office took the magazine's second-class mailing privileges, making it more expensive to mail copies to its sub scribers. The ban would last for three years. As the magazine received wider readership, it published polit^ ical commentary, theater reviews, and the poetry of the young writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Ran dolph was called by a New York newspaper the "most dangerous Negro in America." And by 1919, the government had labeled his magazine "the most able and dan gerous of all the Negro publica tions." In late 1918, Randolph worked with Jamaican Marcus Garvey in the International League of Darker Peoples, which was to present a list of demands on behalf of Third World peoples at the Versailles con ference after World War I. Ran-' dolph had befriended Garvey in 1916 and had introduced him to activist contacts in Harlem. He was to represent Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association in France at the peace conference, but was denied a passport by the State Department. Later, Randolph would break with Garvey, criticize him vehemently in his magazine and call for his deportation to Jamaica. Randolph also criticized DuBois as an "Old Crowd Negro" whose moderate political views were not radical enough for the times. In 1925, Randolph's career took another significant turn when he was approached by Ashley L. Tot ten to speak to a group of African American railroad porters wlio were thinking about starting their own I ? union. , s ? Many of the porters attended or graduated from college, but worked three to four hundred hours a momb - for less than $70. They sleep, paid for their own uriifdahs* ; meals, shoe polish and brushef,.and had to pay for s^uvemf'&jicles for ^ ' - Time Warner Inc. launches Songs of My People project On Feb. 12, Time Warner Inc. officially launched the multimedia Songs of My People project, an his toric photography book and film event about African-American con tributions to American culture. The project is comprised of a book and an international exhibition which opened to the public on Feb. 15 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and will travel nationally under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). In addition, Songs of My People will be an HBO Special, co-produced by Quincy Jones Entertainment, Black side, Inc. and Home Box Office, Tune Warner's pay-TV subsidiary. During the summer and fall of 1990, over 50 of the nation's lead ing African-American photojour nalists were assigned to capture the diversity of the black experience across the nation on film. They photographed those who had achieved success beyond their dreams and others who struggle from day to day. Songs of My Peo ple is a loving, sensitive, critical and hopeful "self-portrait" of the African-American community through its own eyes. Songs of My People celebrates this community and its impact on the American experience, and illustrates the diversity of African-American her itage in music, art, spirituality, fash ion, politics, sports, entertainment, community and family life. The book Songs of My People was published by Little, Brown and , Company on Feb. 12. The book and exhibition were conceived by Eric Easer, D. Michael Cheers and Dud ley M. Brooks, who formed New African Visions, Inc., a not-for profit organization committed to . providing a balanced view of the African-American community through the visual arts. The exhibition is in honor of J. Richard Munro, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Time Warner Inc. A long-time proponent of affir mative action for women and minorities, Munro has been a leader in the struggle for literacy and edu cational equality. "No CEO in America has shown more concern for equal opportunity and social jus tice than Dick Munro," said Nick Nicholas. "And none is more deserving of an honor such as this." r A. Philip Randolph passengers. If they complained, they were fired. Passengers called all porters "George" after George Pullman, the railroad entrepreneur, who, presumably, owned them. After his speech to the railroad porters, Randolph was asked to take leadership of the union. They want ed a leader who was not a porter and who could work independently without fear of losing his job. He refused initially, but later took the office and changed the Messenger into the official voice of the Broth erhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). Randolph published a weekly union newspaper, Black Worker, that was published from 1929 to 1968, when, with the decline of the railroad travel indus try, the union was abolished. Randolph represented the BSCP in its 12-year fight fpr rec^gi nition and negotiatij threats, "-f rtltf' other attempts.*), gfct Mm to sell out iijfeat t)eprfcsSi?({;<*He ' ?jjjttp? for 43? unicie is the 'first ' /African- Afrtkri tfpr union to gain a negotiated contract from one of this country's wealthiest and most pow Cover photograph from the book Songs of My People. ^SVBSONUiV ?4^ v THE ^ REAL McCOY African-American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 Greensboro Historical Museum 130 Summit Ave Jan 18 - Mar 1 Mon ? Sat 10-5 Tue 10 - 8 Sun 2 ? S Free Admission For more information, call 919/373-2043 erful companies. In his 60-year career as a labor leader, Randolph led four delega tions and was a member of a fifth that held face-to-face negotiations with five U.S. presidents on the issue of civil rights for African Americans. He refused several opportunities to run for public office by both Republicans and Democrats and served as vice presi dent of the AFL-CIO. Randolph organized the first planned March On Washington movement in 1941 that was called off at the last minute when Presi dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a order that abolished employment discrimination in gov ernment and the defense industries. Please see page A1 3 tiwi .. . : CI f on the Dark Continent Hannibal? Ruler of Carthage (247 183 B.C.) Nefertari. Nubian Queen of Egypt. 1392-1225 B.C. Tlye? The Nubian Queen of Egypt (ca. 1415-1340 B.C.) Cleopatra VII? Queen of Egypt (69-30 B.C.) SamoryToure The Black Napoleon of the Sudan (1830 1900) Behanzin Hossu Bowelle The Kin&Shark (1841-1906) It is as beautiful as Cleopatra's smile. As inspiring as Behanzin's poems. As wide as the lands unified by Samory Toure. It is as fascinating as the towering pyramids. As powerful as the rumbling Nile. As rich as the diamonds of its own soil. This is the history of Africa Its Great Kings. Its Great Queens. And you... its proud descendents. Budweiser salutes Black History Month with this special series commemorating the Great Kings and Queens of Africa. Nzingha? Amiaon Qucert <af Metemhet West Africa (1582-1663) Queen Amine of Zarla Shembe BotaMbngo (1600-1630) King of the Kongo (1806-1540) Shake of the Zulus (18 A- 1828) Khema-The Good King of Bechuanaland (1819-1923) Moshoeshoe - King of Basutoland 1815 1868) ^Budweiser salutes Mack Jfist&ry .Month R. H. BARRINGER DISTRIBUTING CO., INC. GREENSBORO WINSTON-SALEM BURLINGTON
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Feb. 27, 1992, edition 1
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