United States 1941

Synopsis

In a 1941 effort to dramatize the situation of African Americans before President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the American public, A. Philip Randolph attempted to organize immense crowds to march on Washington, D.C. Randolph and his fellow March on Washington Movement activists demanded an end to segregation in the military and equal access to jobs in the national defense industry for black men and women who were habitually denied such jobs and subjected to other forms of discrimination. Although the activists abandoned the protest itself on condition of a deal with the president, the very threat of a march achieved its main goal: an executive order banning discrimination in national defense employment. It was in many ways the beginning of the modern civil rights movement. The movement's success set the stage for a hugely successful March on Washington in...