The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1947-07-02
East Madison Shopping District

on street corners, sometimes in
halls. To give further expression
to his views in print, he joined
forces with Chandler Owen =
whose satirical writing earned him
the title Of the Negro H. L. Memo
KEN" and launched a magazine
called The Messenger. Boldly
blazoned across the masthead were
the defiant words, The only radi-
cal Negro magazine in America"
Randolph was not the sort of
editor that hid behind a wall of
manuscripts. He lectured at the
Rand School of Social Science and
took part In efforts to organize
workers In laundries. shipyards.
and cinemas. More and more, he
threw himself into the struggle
against Jim Grow. until all else be-
came unimportant to him.
While on an extended trip with
Milt Webster in 1941, he was sick
ened by the determined effort be-
ing made to keen Negro out Of
war industries and the armed
forces. He promptly organized the
March on Washington Movement
Zone person marching up and
down Pennsylvania Avenue in
front OF the White House denounc-
Ing race prejudice is crank" he
reasoned. "Ten thousand people
get respectful attention"
His plan called for a mass
demonstration on the lawn of the
White House by $4,000 Negroes.
He set the date for July 1. 1941.
Most of the large Negro organiza-
tons supported the proposed ope-
ration. It was publicized by the
press and radio, and by the
Brotherhood porters whose work
took them to communities all over
the country.
The prospect of $4,000 Negroes
advancing on Washington doomed
as a nightmare to the Administers
ton. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
phoned his old friend Philip Ran
dolph and asked him to visit him
at his office. When Randolph got
there, he found that third party
was to sit in on the ensuing dis
cussion = Eleanor Roosevelt.
For two hours. Mayor La Guar
dia and Mrs. Roosevelt tried to
dissuade Randolph from going
ahead with the march. They did
not succeed.
A week before July 1. Ranolph
was summoned to the White
House. Before President Roosevelt
and high civilian and military Of
ficials he reiterated the unjustifi-
able conditions that made the
march on Washington necessity.
1.-THE right to work means the
right to live." was the gist of his
argument I'VE want democracy
for the American Negro and other
minority groups now"
Only a few days before the
march got under way. President
Roosevelt issued Executive Order
1902. 1t set up Fair Employment
Practice Committee to eliminate
the barriers that kept 13 million
Negroes and % million other mem
bers of minority groups from get
ting jobs. The march was called
off.
Not long after, when Negro
plumbers were refused employ
ment on construction job where
naval trainig station was be-
ing set up, they appealed to the
FEPC. Soon after, they were in
overalls and busily at work.
Philip Randolph still devotes
much of his time to the problem
of job discrimination. At present,
he is active in countrywide or
ganization, made up of all minor
ity groups, which is working for
the enactment of an effective and
permanent federal FEPC.
Another of Randolph's current
interests is the National Educa-
tional Committee for Third
Party, of which he is chairman.
He is working with John Dewey,
the S7-year-old Columbia philoso-
pher, and various labor leaders.
Randolph would like to see this
party organized to meet the chal-
lenge of a modern age. He wants
a partly that can lay the ground
work for planned economy in
democratic manner. To his way
of thinking. the New Deal was
only part of a patching program
and did not go far enough.
Even when relaxing, Randolph
can't forget the ills that plague
his people. He is an ardent base
ball fan; during one season the
st. Louis Cardinals caught his
fancy. But his admiration was
strictly qualified. 81 think they
have a great ball team in st.
Louis" he observed. "but Negroes
are not admitted to the stadium
to see their home games. can't |
forgive that"
People who have worked closely |
with Randolph say that when he /
makes a promise he carries it out |
down to the smallest detail. 1t has
been said that when Philip and his |
brother were still school kids in /