Brotherhood of sleeping car porters

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) organized railway porters (traditionally an occupation for African-Americans) to bargain with the Pullman Company which held a virtual monopoly on the nation's sleeping car facilities. The BSCP was founded in 1925 in New York City to counteract the poor wages, long hours, and other injustices practiced by the Pullman Car Company. A. Philip Randolph became president of the Brotherhood in 1928. In the mid-1930's the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the New Deal's National Mediation Board recognized the BSCP.

In 1942 Randolph organized the March on Washington Movement in an attempt to force the federal government to end discrimination in war-related employment and to end segregation in the military. The march was aborted when President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which outlawed discrimination in unions and in companies doing business with the federal government and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee to oversee compliance. Although the Executive Order did not mention the military, Randolph, nonetheless, had forced the national government to admit to the existence of widespread racial discrimination in employment opportunities and to accept responsibility to provide remedies for that situation.

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