By: Greg D’Aguiar, Pennsylvania State Education Association Staff Organization
Many contributions of African Americans throughout our nation’s history have been overlooked, overwritten, and discarded. Anyone wanting to learn more about this history usually must conduct extensive research to learn more. When someone finds these nuggets of history, it is often wrapped up in the Civil Rights Movement, and the nuances of their individual contributions can become muddled.
This is no more evident than when it comes to African American contributions to the labor movement in the United States of America. Often, the roles and contributions of African Americans to build the labor movement are left out of the stories of the major labor organizations like the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and even NEA. This article is a small attempt to highlight a few of those contributions to the labor movement.
A. Philip Randolph was born in the late 1800s in Crescent City, Florida. He and his brother attended the Cookman Institute, one of the few all-Black institutions of higher education at the time, now known as Bethune-Cookman University. After graduating, Randolph moved to Harlem, where he became deeply involved in the fight for Black economic and social justice.
As the labor movement gained momentum in the early 20th century, Randolph’s path would soon intersect with the plight of Black railway workers. In 1925, he met with Pullman porters—Black men working grueling hours on luxury trains for low pay under harsh conditions. These workers, employed by the Chicago-based Pullman Palace Car Company, were essential to the railway industry but were treated as disposable. Randolph spent the next decade organizing with them, building power from the ground up. In 1937, their persistence paid off: the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was officially recognized, becoming the first predominantly Black labor union in the United States.
But Randolph’s impact didn’t stop there. As the nation headed into World War II, he expanded his focus, understanding that economic justice couldn’t be separated from the fight against racial discrimination. He led the campaign to end segregation in the defense industry and the military—an effort that forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, banning discriminatory hiring practices in defense jobs, and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Commission.
Randolph’s influence continued to grow throughout the 1950s. He became one of the first two Black vice presidents of the newly formed AFL-CIO and went on to establish the Negro American Labor Council (NALC), ensuring that the voices of Black workers remained central in the labor movement.
All of this laid the groundwork for what would become a defining moment in American history. In 1963, Randolph played a leading role in organizing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Nearly 250,000 people gathered in the nation’s capital to demand civil rights and economic opportunity, solidifying Randolph’s legacy as a pioneer in both the labor and civil rights movements.
Dorothy Bolden began doing domestic work alongside her mother at just nine years old. She was proud of the work, but she also understood how exhausting and overlooked it could be. Bolden believed domestic workers deserved respect, recognition, and fair treatment, just like anyone else in the labor force. With encouragement from her neighbor, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she acted. In 1968, she founded the National Domestic Workers Union, organizing housekeepers, nannies, and other domestic laborers on a national scale—something that had never been done before. The union empowered workers to negotiate for better pay, benefits like vacation time, and basic dignity on the job. Bolden also made it a requirement for every member to register to vote, helping domestic workers find their voice not just at work, but in the political arena as well.
Curt Flood entered Major League Baseball just one year after the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, stepping into a world that was beginning to shift under the weight of the civil rights movement. According to his son, Pace Flood, “He was one of the first ballplayers to get involved with the civil rights movement. Jackie Robinson was his hero. For Curt, players’ rights and civil rights were part of the same idea.” Flood followed in the legacy of athlete-activists like Paul Robeson and Robinson, understanding that justice didn’t stop at the voting booth—it had to reach the locker room too. In 1975, he took one of the boldest stands in sports history by challenging Major League Baseball’s reserve clause before the U.S. Supreme Court. That fight, though costly to his career, laid the groundwork for free agency and changed the landscape of labor rights for professional athletes forever.
Nannie Helen Burroughs was more than an educator and suffragist—she was a force for labor justice and a mentor to a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She understood that the fight for voting rights had to include the fight for fair working conditions, especially for Black women. In 1921, she founded the National Association of Wage Earners, one of the first labor unions dedicated to organizing Black domestic workers. But she didn’t stop at organizing—she knew education was key to breaking cycles of exploitation. That’s why she also founded the National Trade School for Women and Girls, creating real pathways for economic independence and dignity in the workplace for Black women across the country.
The National Staff Organization represents union staff across the country and serves as a unifying voice for professionals who strengthen and support the labor movement.
Grounded in a commitment to leadership, advocacy, stability and justice, NSO empowers its members to build strong contracts, protect union values and champion the rights of workers nationwide. Learn more at www.nationalstaff.org.