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 ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

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 Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

, A. Philip Randolph, 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 Bayard Rustin (; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, ...

, 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, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and the labor 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 Maste ...

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 Amalgamated Bank () is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate. Founded on ...

and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention'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 George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...

(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 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Husted v. Randolph Institute 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