Phillip Randolph
2025
Labor Union Activist
Asa Philip Randolph grew up in the Jim Crow South in a minister’s household, yet he became one of the 20th century’s most influential champions of social justice — not through religious creed, but guided by secular, humanist convictions. He believed deeply in the power of ordinary people to achieve their own liberation, famously declaring:
“Salvation for a race, nation, or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.”
This credo defined Randolph’s approach: progress would come not from divine intervention, but through organized human action.
Randolph was a driving force behind two of America’s most transformative movements: organized labor and civil rights. As founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, he built the first successful, Black-led labor union in U.S. history, defying both corporate resistance and racial barriers. He later leveraged his influence to pressure presidents and shape federal policy, advocating for equal opportunity through reasoned protest and secular principles.
In 1941, Randolph called for a mass march on Washington to protest discrimination in defense industries. The march was ultimately cancelled after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning such practices. Randolph’s strategy demonstrated his enduring belief in collective, grassroots power — not divine deliverance.
His advocacy for strategic nonviolence and economic justice continued through World War II and into the postwar years. He helped push President Harry Truman to desegregate the armed forces in 1948 and co-founded the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 1950. Most famously, he served as a key architect of the 1963 March on Washington, where he opened the event by declaring it “the advanced guard of a massive, moral revolution for jobs and freedom.”
While Randolph rarely discussed his personal religious views publicly, he increasingly aligned with secular and humanist thinking. In 1970, he was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association, and in 1973, he signed Humanist Manifesto II, a document that rejected the supernatural and emphasized human agency and ethical responsibility. Though his endorsement did not mean full agreement with every phrase, it reflected his broader commitment to reason, dignity, and progress without reliance on religious dogma. As one passage of the manifesto states:
“Our aim is to appeal to reason. … Prayer is not one of our remedies; it depends on what one is praying for. We consider prayer nothing more than a fervent wish; consequently, the merit and worth of a prayer depend upon what the fervent wish is.”
This sentiment resonates with another core tenet of the document: “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”
Randolph’s legacy — across labor, civil rights, and American public life — was grounded in a secular moral philosophy that honored human potential, collective action, and the courage to confront injustice without appeals to divine intervention.