Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that A. Philip Randolph should be recognized for his lifelong leadership and work to end discrimination and secure equal employment and labor opportunities for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 150) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that A. Philip Randolph should be recognized for his lifelong leadership and work to end discrimination and secure equal employment and labor opportunities for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am especially pleased to rise in support of this resolution honoring the life and work of A. Philip Randolph, whom I have had the privilege of meeting and working with indirectly.

I am pleased to be a cosponsor of the resolution with the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), who introduced it.

A. Philip Randolph was a towering figure in the movement for social justice in this country, particularly in the fields of labor and civil rights. He is principally noted for his efforts in organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters on trains, porters who were all African Americans in the middle 20th century and earlier. There were nearly 10,000 of them who had never been unionized before. He was able to do that. Finally, he worked out a contract in 1937 with Pullman, and then went to the AFL-CIO where they were able to gain an international charter. That was his major contribution.

Yet, to me, what was so important was the work that he did with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., because it was he who, with Bayard Rustin, organized the march on Washington for jobs and freedom on August 28, 1963. I was a lawyer who was at that march. It was the first one which drew over 200,000 people and which had a great effect on our moving to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

There are books about him, but the story that I like to tell is about the time that he challenged President Roosevelt to end the desegregation in the military and in the military factories, which were the industries that were making war materials. In a historic meeting with President Roosevelt, President Roosevelt acknowledged the validity of his struggle, but then he said something prophetic. He said, Make me do it.

Amazingly, Randolph, after a period of time, assembled a huge number of people to march on Washington. As they got ready to march, word came from the White House that the President would accede to his demand, and he gave an executive order banning racial discrimination in the government and in the factories. That has been told many times over.

I am indebted to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Randolph worked out of New York and I am hopeful that Chairman Rangel may have met him and knew him as well.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time and urge support for the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the actions of the House of Representatives in recognizing the life and work of intellectual, activist and community organizer A. Philip Randolph. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I strongly support H. Res. 150, which provides Congress with an opportunity to recognize important issues such as civil rights, labor rights, and the struggle for racial equality, to which A. Philip Randolph devoted his life, and which continue to have relevance today. I encourage my colleagues to support this important resolution.

A. Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City, Florida. He was a student of politics and economics at City College during the Harlem Renaissance. In 1917, Randolph co-founded ``The Messenger,'' a widely respected political and literary magazine which campaigned against the horrors of lynching and segregation. Deeply concerned not only with African American rights, but also labor and employment issues, he organized a union of elevator operators in New York in the same year. In 1925 he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a labor union which advanced African American claims to respect, dignity and a decent livelihood. He used the threat of a march on Washington as part of a successful lobbying effort to abolish racial discrimination in the national defense industry which led President Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 8802, or the Fair Employment Act in 1941--the first Federal Law to prohibit employment discrimination in the United States. In 1947, Randolph led a successful movement to end segregation in the armed forces, which prompted President Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services. In 1963, Randolph initiated and organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Martin Luther King, Jr. of my home State of Georgia delivered his ``I Have a Dream'' speech, and which helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Throughout his life, A. Philip Randolph demonstrated the kind of moral courage worthy of our gratitude and support. His activism and his commitment to social justice consisted not in holding society to a moral standard that is external to it, but rather in demanding that society take seriously its own idea of freedom on which it intrinsically depends. Although much progress has been made since Randolph's death in 1979, the gap which he fought to overcome, between what we are and what we can be, between society and its potential, remains today as it did in his lifetime. His leadership in the civil rights movement and his lifelong efforts to secure equal labor opportunities for all Americans make him a positive role model, not only for young people, but for all of the citizens in this great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand before you today in support of H. Res. 150, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that A. Philip Randolph should be recognized for his lifelong leadership and work to end discrimination and secure equal employment and labor opportunities for all Americans.

A. Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. In 1917, Randolph co-founded The Messenger, a widely read and respected magazine known for its radical persuasion.

Randolph was perhaps most widely known for his work advocating for the rights of workers, and working to end employment discrimination. Randolph worked tirelessly on behalf of African American workers in forming the ``Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters'' (BSCP), an organization designed to advance the claims of African Americans to dignity, respect and a decent livelihood. After Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal forced the Pullman Company to negotiate with the BSCP in 1937, Randolph successfully negotiated the first-ever contract between a company and a black union.

Randolph became one of the most widely known spokespersons for the African American working class in America. In 1940, after Franklin Roosevelt refused to issue an executive order banning discrimination against black workers in the defense industry, Randolph called for 100,000 African Americans to march on Washington, DC. Support for Randolph's march grew so wide that President Roosevelt was forced to issue an executive order on June 25, 1941 declaring ``there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color or national origin.''

Randolph's legacy of working for labor opportunities and employment justice is alive and thriving today. In my home town of Houston, Texas, students at the University of Houston have carried on the torch of justice for laborers in founding the University of Houston Students Against Sweatshops. These students organized the largest boycott of modern student activism against Russell Athletic, due to labor violations in their factory in Honduras. Thanks to the student effort, Russell has recently agreed to meet worker demands and improve labor conditions for its 1200 workers.

The above example is a testament to the lasting and widespread effects of Randolph's work. As a champion for African American laborers, Randolph was able to shape our nation's values on employment and equality. Today, students from all over the country, including my home state of Texas, have picked up the torch in support of labor rights worldwide.

I ask my colleagues to stand with me in support of H. Res. 150.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I support House Resolution 150, which recognizes Asa Philip Randolph for his lifelong leadership and work to end discrimination and secure equal employment and labor opportunities for all Americans.

Mr. Randolph was a leading champion of fairness in the 20th century. He is one of the most well-known trade unionists of his time and he helped found the modern civil rights movement.

Mr. Randolph moved to the Harlem district of New York City in 1911, where he organized black voters in favor of labor rights. In 1917 he cofounded a magazine, The Messenger, calling for more positions for black Americans in the war industry and the Armed Forces.

In 1925, Mr. Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was the first serious effort to form a labor institution for the employees of

the Pullman Company, which was one of America's most powerful companies and a major employer of black Americans. The Pullman Company later negotiated with the Brotherhood in 1935 and agreed to a contract with them in 1937, winning pay increases, shorter workweeks and overtime pay for their employees.

In 1941, Mr. Randolph proposed a march on Washington to protest racial discrimination in war industries and to propose the desegregation of the American Armed Forces. The march was canceled after President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which called for an end to discrimination in defense industries and government on the basis of race, creed, or national origin.

Mr. Randolph's nonviolent efforts led to the signing of another executive order on July 26, 1948, this time signed by President Truman to ban discrimination and segregation in the Armed Forces.

In addition to these accomplishments, Mr. Randolph was an active participant in a number of organizations and causes, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, which he cofounded, and the Workmen's Circles. He also formed the A. Philip Randolph Institute for community leaders to study the causes of poverty.

Mr. Randolph has been called ``the towering civil rights figure of the period'' in which he lived, ``the dean of American civil rights leaders'' and ``among the first leadership of the Labor movement.'' He fought for more than a half-century on behalf of the poor and deprived, securing rights not just for black workers but for employees of all races and nationalities.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, no one can start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. A. Philip Randolph was one of the many to make a new ending for not just himself, but the world around him. A. Philip Randolph was a prominent twentieth-century African-American civil rights leader and the founder of both the March on Washington Movement and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a landmark for labor and particularly for African-American labor organizing. Inspired from the writing of W.E.B. Dubois, Souls of Black Folk; this graduate of Bethune-Cookman College and son of an A.M.E. preacher took his beliefs and made them manifest through serving others.

Randolph had some experience in labor organization, having organized a union of elevator operators in New York City in 1917. In 1925 Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was the first serious effort to form a labor institution for the employees of the Pullman Company, which was a major employer of African- Americans. With amendments to the Railway Labor Act in 1934, porters were granted rights under federal law, and membership in the Brotherhood jumped to more than 7,000. After years of bitter struggle, the Pullman Company finally began to negotiate with the Brotherhood in 1935, and agreed to a contract with them in 1937, winning $2,000,000 in pay increases for employees, a shorter workweek, and overtime pay. Randolph maintained the Brotherhood's affiliation with the American Federation of Labor through the 1955 AFL-CIO merger.

Randolph was also responsible for the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963 with the help of Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is often attributed in part to the success of the March on Washington, where Black and White Americans stood united and witnessed King's ``I Have a Dream'' speech. As the U.S. civil rights movement gained momentum in the early 1960s and came to the forefront of the nation's consciousness, his rich baritone voice was often heard on television news programs addressing the nation on behalf of African-Americans engaged in the struggle for voting rights and an end to discrimination in public accommodations. He was also an active participant in many other organizations and causes, including the Workmen's Circle and others.