A. Philip Randolph

Asa Philip Randolph was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American-led labor union. In the early Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Movement, Randolph was a prominent voice. His continuous agitation with the support of fellow labor rights activists against racist labor practices helped lead President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II. The group then successfully maintained pressure, so that President Harry S. Truman proposed a new Civil Rights Act and issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 in 1948, promoting fair employment and anti-discrimination policies in federal government hiring, and ending racial segregation in the armed services.

15 April 1889

Born on the same birth date (15 April 1889): Thomas Hart Benton (painter)

Born on the same birth day (15 April): Alex Crawford • Alfred S. Bloomingdale • André Joubert • Andrés D'Alessandro • Clark McConachy • Claudia Cardinale • Claudius Salmasius • Craig Zadan • Dave Edmunds • Elmer Gedeon • Harold Washington • Henry James • John Williams (actor) • Karl Turner (British politician) • Kevin Lowe • Neil Carmichael (English politician) • Nikolai Gumilev • Roy Clark • Stuart Prebble • Tim Lankester • William Crowther (Australian politician)

Born in the same month (April 1889): António de Oliveira Salazar • Efrem Zimbalist • Grigoraș Dinicu • Jessie Street • K. B. Hedgewar • Otto Georg Thierack • Paul Karrer • Richard Glücks