The A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) is an organization for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ists. APRI advocates social, labor, and economic change at the state and federal level, using legal and legislative means.

History

In response to the 1963 Children's Crusade and the passage of the

Voting Rights Act The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

A. Philip Randolph Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American led labor union. In ...

, former head of the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Founded in 1925, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The BSCP gathered a membership of 18,000 passenger railwa ...

, an early black trade union, and Bayard Rustin, founded the APRI to forge an alliance between the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

and the

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. These efforts got them on the

master list of Nixon political opponents Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

. Bayard Rustin served as the first president of the organization, serving from 1965 to 1979. After which he became a co-chair for the organization. APRI describes its mission as a fight for racial equality and economic justice. It works with black trade unionists, seeking to build relations between labor and abor and black communities. APRI was also the spearhead for an organization called the "Black Alliance", and together they would support the trade union movement. APRI has 150 chapters in 36 states.

Current status

APRI is currently led by National President Clayola Brown, a post she has held since August 2004. Brown also serves on the boards of Amalgamated Bank and the

Center for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

's Business Response to AIDS/Labor Response to AIDS. She was appointed to the National Commission on Employment Policy by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, and appointed a member of the New York State Workforce Investment Board by Gov. George Pataki (Black Leadership Forum, Inc., 2002–03). APRI filed suit against the state of Ohio, charging that its process of purging voter roles violates the

National Voter Registration Act of 1993 The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), also known as the Motor Voter Act, is a United States federal law signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 20, 1993, that came into effect on January 1, 1995. The law was enacted und ...

and the

Help America Vote Act The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (), or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002.United States Department of Justice Civil Rights ...

of 2002. The Supreme Court agreed to hear

Husted v. Randolph Institute Husted is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bill Husted (1866–1941), American baseball player * Dave Husted (born 1960), American ten-pin bowler * Erik Husted (1900–1988), Danish field hockey player *Ida Husted Harper Ida ...

in 2017.

References

External links

A. Philip Randolph Institute WebsiteA. Philip Randolph Institute San Francisco Chapter Web site
Trade unions in the United States AFL–CIO History of labor relations in the United States African-American leftism Trade unions established in 1965 African-American trade unions {{US-trade-union-stub