North Carolina’s Union Movement

Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979) was perhaps the greatest black labor leader in American history and the father of the modern American Civil Rights Movement. His protégé, Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) was a leading civil rights and labor activist and strategist. Rustin was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. Together, they founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) in 1965 as a non-profit, non-partisan organization of black trade unionists to fight for racial equality and economic justice for all the disinherited of the nation.

“Salvation for a race, nation, or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted. Freedom and justice must be struggled for by the oppressed of all lands and races, and the struggle must be continuous; for freedom is never a final act, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, oconomic, political and religious relationships.” - A. Philip Randolph

Today the APRI has approximately 150 chapters in 36 states, including North Carolina. The NC APRI has local chapters in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Erwin, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Roanoke Rapids, Wilmington, Wilson, and Winston-Salem and is an affiliated organization of the NC State AFL-CIO.

NCAPRI chapters provide solidarity support for local unions during organizing campaigns, provide services - including an officially certified NC food bank - for community members in need, lobbies the legislature, runs voter registration drives and GOTV efforts.

Click the image above to visit the national APRI website - apri.org. To contact the NC Chapter, call (919) 833-6671.