Lucille Campbell Green Randolph (April 15, 1883 – April 12, 1963) was an early graduate of

Madam C. J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...

's Lelia Beauty College, opening and running a successful salon in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She was married to the civil rights activist

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 ...

and was able to finance his newspaper '' The Messenger''.

Biography

Randolph née Campbell was born on April 15, 1883, in

Christiansburg, Virginia Christiansburg (formerly Hans Meadows) is a town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 21,041 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Christiansburg, Blacksburg and the city of Radford are th ...

. She studied at Howard University with the plan to become a teacher. At Howard she met her first husband, Joseph Green. The couple moved to New York City where she taught school and he worked at a customs house. Joseph Green died shortly after the couple settled in New York and Randolph subsequently enrolled in one of the first classes of Lelia Beauty College, the beauty school founded by Madam C. J. Walker. Randolph opened a successful salon on 135th Street that catered to

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 ...

elite women. Randolph became involved with political activism, becoming a member of the American Labor Party. In 1914 Randolph married fellow

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

A. Philip Randolph. She supported him both financially and politically. She was able to publish his Socialist newspaper, ''The Messenger'', which she then distributed from her salon. With her support he was also able to organize for labor, and human rights of African Americans, becoming an important voice in the civil rights movement. She died on April 12, 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Lucille Campbell Green 1883 births 1963 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights African-American women in business American women in business Beauticians Howard University alumni New York (state) socialists 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women