MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Randolph, A. Phillip, 1889-1979
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Descriptive Summary
Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1966-1968
Volume: 6 item(s); 7 pg(s)
Scope and Content
The Committee of Conscience Against Apartheid was organized by the American committee on Africa in cooperation with the National Student Christian Federation. Students organizing this came from Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, Columbia University and Barnard College. The plan was to divest for two New York banks: First National City and Chase Manhattan. Merton added his name as an endorser of the project and was featured on their letterhead (see 1966/11/14 letter). Merton also endorsed a position paper distributed in 1968 to be presented to elected representatives. Signing this letter to Merton, along with Randolph, was co-chair of the American Committee on Africa, the Unitarian minister Rev. Donald Szantho Harrington.
Biography
A. Philip Randolph was in the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans, a socialist and union leader fighting for workers writes and equality. Born in Florida, he moved to Harlem in 1911 to get into theater. Enrolling at the City College of New York, he changed life plans and majored in politics and economics. Together with Columbia University student Chandler Owen, he founded the radical magazine, The Messenger, in 1917. He organized a union called the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, the Pullman Company being a major employer of African Americans. He was a supporter of non-violent means of protest and generally anti-war, fighting discrimination in the armed forces during the 1940's. During the 1950's and 1960's, he served as vice president of the AFL-CIO unions. Along with Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr., he helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. The following year, he was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Source: "A. Philip Randolph." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Feb 2006, 04:34 UTC. 15 Feb 2006, ‹http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A._Philip_Randolph&oldid=38873488›.)
Usage Guidelines and Restrictions
Related Information and Links
See also one published letter from Merton to Randolph in The Road to Joy, pp. 339-340.
Other Finding Aids
If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
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