"The Unfinished Revolution: The Political Life of A. Philip Randolph"

FAIN: FZ-287197-22

Eric J. Arnesen
George Washington University (Washington, DC 20052-0001)

Research and writing of a political biography of A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979), an African American labor leader and civil rights activist.

"The Unfinished Revolution: The Political Life of A. Philip Randolph" is a biography of one of the 20th century’s most important civil rights and labor activists whose years of political engagement spanned the 1910s to the early 1970s. It explores currents of Black radicalism, trade unionism racism, anticommunism, and anti-colonialism during the Cold War. Critically exploring Randolph's multiple campaigns against governmental and union discrimination, it situates Randolph’s political beliefs and activism in relation to broader African American political currents and explores his use of public opinion, political pressure, the judiciary, and grassroots mobilization in pursuit of racial and economic equality.