born April 15, 1889, Crescent City, Fla., U.S.
died May 16, 1979, New York, N.Y.
U.S. civil-rights leader.
He was the son of a Methodist minister. In 1911 he moved to New York, where he cofounded the journal The Messenger (later Black Worker ), in which he called for more positions for African Americans in the war industry and the armed forces. In 1925 he founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African American trade union, and he served as its president until 1968. In 1941 he lobbied Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt to ban racial discrimination in defense industries and federal bureaus. In 1948 he influenced Pres. Harry Truman to bar racial segregation in the armed forces. In 1955 he was made a vice president of the newly combined AFL-CIO . In order to combat discrimination in that union, he formed the Negro American Labor Council in 1960.