By Pat Bryant*
About 100 people, some elected, some White, some Black and Latino, and some youth converged in Eve Lyon Park, under sleepy moss covered Live Oak trees to pay homage to one of the greatest persons ever to live in the United States, Asa Phillip Randolph.
Pedestrians and drivers will now see the dedicated sign “A. Phillip Randolph Memorial Highway, Crescent City’s Native Son 1879-1979”.
A few of the luminaries— Former State Senator Tony Hill, Crescent City Mayor Michele Myers, Putnam County Commissioners Bill Pickens, Lisa Davito, Veronica Glover, and Angel Duke, mistress of ceremony and President of the A Phillip and key note speaker Valda McKinney, president of the Dade County, Florida APRI, and 103 year old member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Sollie Mitchell and Tirso Moreno, Latino labor leader of farm workers.
Asa Phillip Randolph, born 1889 in Crescent City, died May 16, 1979 in New York. He was educated in the public schools of Jacksonville Florida, where he was a scholar and debater and City College of New York City. The son of an A.M.E. minister/seamstress, he left Jacksonville after high school for opportunities fitting his talents.
Ms. Angel Duke noted that Asa organized in 1925 the first successful Black labor union in America, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Unbought , Asa once refused a $1 million check from George Pullman owner of the sleeping cars, and kept agitating for labor rights of the porters and civil, economic and political rights for African Americans. He was responsible for President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 in 1941 banning discrimination in the defense industries in World War II, and agitating President Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9980 and 9981 in 1948 for anti-discrimination policies in the federal government and ending racial segregation in the U.S. armed forces. Asa Phillip Randolph called for and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. where Dr. Martin Luther King, John Lewis and half million others pushed President Lyndon Johnson and Congress to enact the 1963 Civil Rights Act banning segregation in public places.
- Phillip Randolph loved and supported the arts. Trumpeter Hartley Leacock of Gainesville played a rendition of Andre Crouch’s “Center of my Joy” and “Rise” by Herb Albert.
It was a hot day under the oaks and tents, but few wore hats and investor Gerald Watson passed out bottled water that would have been a bucket and dipper in the old days. Sleeping Car Porter Sollie Mitchell posed with all who wanted a picture of the man who fought alongside Mr. Randolph to gain respect, wages and benefits, and dignity for Black workers at a time when “boy” was the title received from most Whites.
Ms. Valda McKinney of Dade County’s APRI challenged the audience “not to let people turn back the hands of time” an obvious reference to the worldwide resurgence of racism. The classroom teacher/labor organizer urged for registering and getting out the vote. Florida may elect a US senator if progressives turn up the drama isolate racist politicians.
Ms. McKinney urged the youth to get an education, noting that their responsibility is to educate themselves because and education is something that no one can take away from you.
A reception followed at Angel Duke’s 1862 mansion on Crescent Lake, one of Florida’s many treasures. Under moss covered oaks was served jazz by Hartley Leacock and sumptuously grilled veggies, chicken, steak, and shrimp by Hibachi Man, Tate Hardy. The two dwelling has more than 50 windows and is filled with beautiful hand crafted mahogany and other woods typical of the of the period.
Another event honored A. Phillip Randolph and Sollie Mitchell the following day at the Greater Macedonia Baptist Church Sunday morning worship service. Senator and deacon Tony Hill and Pastor Brian Campbell lavished attention to Sollie, who was secretary treasurer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Jacksonville. Rev. Campbell challenged all to craft their legacies like A. Phillip Randolph and Sollie Mitchell to help lift humanity from racism and exploitation.
For more information on A. Phillip Randolph: Jarvis Anderson, A. Phillip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait; Thomas R. Brooks and A.H. Raskin, A. Philliip Randolph 1889-1979, The New Leader, Daniel S. Davis, Mr Black Labor: The Story of A. Phillip Randolph, Father of the Civil Rights Movement; Marring Marable, A. Phillip Randolph and the Foundations of Black American Socialism; and 1000 Black Men Named George staring Andre Braugher, Charles Dutton, and Mario Van Peebles.
*Pat Bryant is a long time southern journalist freedom fighter
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