born March 17, 1910, West Chester, Pa., U.S.
died Aug. 24, 1987, New York, N.Y.
U.S. civil rights leader.
He organized the New York branch of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1941 and worked for the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1941 to 1953. In the 1950s he was an adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr. , and helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference . He was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington to rally support for pending civil rights legislation. He later served as president (1966–79) of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a civil rights organization.