A. Philip Randolph and the Power of Organized Refusal

Black History Month Series

A. Philip Randolph didn’t believe freedom could survive without economic power. He believed political rights without material security were fragile, easily withdrawn, and too often symbolic. That belief shaped everything he built.

As the leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Randolph organized Black workers who labored under some of the harshest conditions in American industry. Sleeping car porters worked grueling hours for low pay, slept irregularly, and endured constant racial humiliation. They were expected to serve quietly, anticipate every need, and disappear when not in use. Tips were treated as wages. Dignity was treated as expendable.

A. Philip Randolph and Pullman porters

Unionizing in that environment was dangerous. The Pullman Company was one of the most powerful corporations in the country, and it fought relentlessly to prevent collective organization. Porters who showed interest in the union risked termination, blacklisting, and financial ruin. Surveillance was common. Retaliation was routine. Many employers understood that economic instability was the most effective form of discipline.

Randolph persisted because he understood a core truth. Without collective economic power, appeals to fairness rarely succeed. Individual dignity can’t be protected when workers are isolated and disposable. Rights without leverage depend on goodwill, and goodwill is unreliable.

In 1937, after more than a decade of organizing, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters won federal recognition and secured a collective bargaining agreement. The victory brought tangible improvements. Wages increased. Work hours were reduced. Grievance procedures were established. But the deeper shift was psychological. Workers who had been treated as interchangeable gained agency. They learned how to negotiate, how to organize, and how to apply pressure strategically.

That training mattered. The impact of the Brotherhood extended far beyond the railcars. Sleeping car porters became organizers, fundraisers, and information carriers within Black communities. They traveled widely, carried newspapers, distributed ideas, and quietly supported emerging civil rights organizations. Their economic stability made sustained political engagement possible.

Randolph carried this lesson into national politics. When the federal government tolerated racial discrimination in defense industries during World War II, he didn’t appeal to patriotism alone. He threatened a mass march on Washington. The pressure worked. President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in defense employment and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee.

Randolph didn’t ask politely. He organized leverage.

Labor, in Randolph’s framework, wasn’t an accessory to civil rights. It was infrastructure. It created durable power, protected participation, and made political demands enforceable. Without it, civil rights gains could be delayed, diluted, or reversed.

That lesson still holds. When communities lose economic power, their rights become easier to limit or ignore. Randolph understood that freedom isn’t maintained by moral arguments alone. It depends on organized power.

History keeps confirming his point.

-Smart Brown Girl