Today in Black History

 

Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, NJ. He attended Rutgers University, exceled and lettered in four sports, was on the debate team, and earned a Phi Beta Kappa key for scholarship. Trained as an attorney, Paul Robeson became a world-acclaimed actor and singer. He worked tirelessly for African-American civil rights, but as an avowed Communist later in his life, his tours and passport were cancelled by the U.S. government. Mr. Robeson died on January 23, 1976.

 

In 1939, renowned opera singer Marian Anderson performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after being denied admission to Constitutional Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Over 75,000 people attended the concert; Ms. Anderson (February 27, 1897 - April 8, 1993) has been declared as having one of the most voices of all time.

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Words on Wednesday: A. Philip Randolph, Civil Rights and Union Leader

Asa Philip Randolph (1889 - 1979)

African American Civil Rights Leader and Trade Unionist

Leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP): the first African-American union which in 1937 won a contract from the Pullman Company (the first ever signed by a white employer with an African-American labor leader).

Vice-President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

Organized the first March on Washington 1941 to protest exclusion of African-Americans from defense plants; the march was called off only after President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 to establish the first Fair Employment Practice Committee.

Demanded that segregation in the armed forces be abolished; in 1948 President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 to racially integrate the armed services.

Helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington for jobs and freedom, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King gave the "I Have a Dream" speech.

 

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