Organized Labor and the Negro Worker

At the 1959 AFL-CIO national convention held in San Francisco, Negro unionist A. Philip Randolph presented a resolution calling for the expulsion of two railway unions unless they removed “white only” clauses from their constitutions by a specified date. The response was given by George Meany when he asked, “Who the hell appointed you guardian of all the Negroes in America?” A little less than a year later, 10,000 Negro unionists answered Meany by forming the Negro American Labor Council.

The NALC has many stated goals for the future. But all its maneuverings within and without the labor movement in the last two years have centered around Randolph’s belief that trade unions “are essentially urban organizations and since Negroes have been moving to the cities in ever increasing numbers, it only follows then,’ that labor’s future is tied up with the future of the Negro.”

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Myrna Bain

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At the 1959 AFL-CIO national convention held in San Francisco, Negro unionist A. Philip Randolph presented a resolution calling for the expulsion of two railway unions unless they removed “white only” clauses from their constitutions by a specified date. The response was given by George Meany when he asked, “Who the hell appointed you guardian of all the Negroes in America?” A little less than a year later, 10,000 Negro unionists answered Meany by forming the Negro American Labor Council.

The NALC has many stated goals for the future. But all its maneuverings within and without the labor movement in the last two years have centered around Randolph’s belief that trade unions “are essentially urban organizations and since Negroes have been moving to the cities in ever increasing numbers, it only follows then,’ that labor’s future is tied up with the future of the Negro.”