National A. Phillip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum

Chicago, Illinois

Major Civil Rights and Labor Union Leader.

Philip Randolph was a leader in the African-American civil-rights movement and the American labor movement.  He organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly African-American labor union.  

In the early civil rights movement, Randolph led the March on Washington Movement, which convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II.  The group then later pressured President Harry S. Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, ending segregation in the armed services.  In 1963, Randolph was the head of the March on Washington at which Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his ”I Have A Dream” speech.

The museum’s permanent collection displays exhibits about the Pullman historic district, the great migration, American labor history, A. Philip Randolph, the Pullman Porters and the American civil rights movement.  In February 2015, the Pullman District was designated by President Obama as Chicago’s first national park.  

Victory Monument in Chicago was erected to honor the achievements of the Eighth Regiment of the Illinois National Guard, an African-American unit that served in France during WWII.  It is one of the best-known landmarks in Chicago’s African-American community.