A. Philip Randolph: The Religious Journey of an African American Labor Leader

Cynthia Taylor

Open Access Published by New York University Press 2005

A. Philip Randolph

The Religious Journey of an African American Labor Leader

Cynthia Taylor

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479899388.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Important insights into the life and mind of one of the most significant civil rights leaders of the twentieth century

A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was one of the most effective black trade unionists in America. Once known as "the most dangerous black man in America," he was a radical journalist, a labor leader, and a pioneer of civil rights strategies. His protegé Bayard Rustin noted that, "With the exception of W.E.B. Du Bois, he was probably the greatest civil rights leader of the twentieth century until Martin Luther King."

Scholarship has traditionally portrayed Randolph as an atheist and anti-religious, his connections to African American religion either ignored or misrepresented. Taylor places Randolph within the context of American religious history and uncovers his complex relationship to African American religion. She demonstrates that Randolph’s religiosity covered a wide spectrum of liberal Protestant beliefs, from a religious humanism on the left, to orthodox theological positions on the right, never straying far from his African Methodist roots.

Author / Editor information

Taylor Cynthia :

Cynthia Taylor teaches American history and religion in the Humanities Department of Dominican University of California.

Reviews

Possessing & a passion for progressive religion (p. xi) herself, Cynthia Taylor is keen to find and trace this quality in her study of religion and A. Philip Randolph.

Clarence Taylor,author of Black Religious Intellectuals: The Fight for Equality from Jim Crow to the Twenty-first Century:
Finally we have a book that seriously examines the religious views of one of the most important figures in modern American history as well as the black freedom struggle.

Taylor provides intriguing insights on dynamics of social gospel thought and activity in twentieth-century sociopolitical and economic struggle.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction: The Religious Journey of A. Philip Randolph Open Access Download PDF	1
1. One of the Sons of African Methodism Open Access Download PDF	7
2. The Messenger: A Forum for Liberal Religion Open Access Download PDF	37
3. The Brotherhood: Religion for the Working Class Open Access Download PDF	85
4. The 1940s March on Washington Movement: Experiments in Prayer Protests, Liberation and Black Theology, and Gandhian Satyagraha Open Access Download PDF	128
5. The Miracle of Montgomery Open Access Download PDF	176
Epilogue: The Old Gentleman Open Access Download PDF	221
Notes Open Access Download PDF	227
Selected Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	265
Index Open Access Download PDF	273
About the Author Open Access Download PDF	291

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: December 1, 2005
ISBN: 9781479899388