(1889–1979), American labor leader, born in Crescent City, Fla. During his youth Randolph worked as a section hand on a railroad. Upon completion of high school, he moved to New York City and attended the College of the City of New York. While a student, he organized a union of elevator operators. Concerned over the treatment of black workers on railroads, he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly black workers granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. After more than ten years of struggle, his union won recognition as bargaining agent with the Pullman Co.

A longtime supporter of civil liberties, he was instrumental in persuading President Franklin D. Roosevelt to set up the Fair Employment Practices Committee in 1941. In 1948 he organized the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience against Military Segregation, which resulted in the issuance by President Harry S. Truman of an executive order banning segregation in the armed forces. In 1957 he was elected a vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. He was also one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, a civil rights gathering of more than 200,000 in the nation's capital.

For further information on this person, see the section Randolph, A(sa) Philip.