Randolph Blackwell | |
|---|---|
 Randolph Blackwell - Former Director (1977 – 1979) of the Minority Business Development Agency. | |
| Born | (1927-03-10)March 10, 1927 Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Died | May 21, 1981(1981-05-21) (aged 54) |
| Occupation | Director of the Office of Minority Business Enterprise |
| Known for | Veteran of the Civil Rights Movement |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Knox Blackwell |
| Children | 1 |
Randolph T. Blackwell (March 10, 1927 – May 21, 1981) was an American activist of theCivil Rights Movement, serving inMartin Luther King Jr.'sSouthern Christian Leadership Conference, amongst other organizations.[1][2][3]Coretta Scott King described him as an "unsung giant" of nonviolent social change.[4]
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Blackwell's father was active inMarcus Garvey'sUnited Negro Improvement Association; Randolph attended association meetings with his father, and visited the prison where Garvey was held. In 1943, inspired by hearingElla Baker speak, he founded a youth chapter of theNAACP in Greensboro. As a student insociology atNorth Carolina A & T University (from which he graduated in 1949) he made an unsuccessful run for the state assembly.[4] He earned a law degree fromHoward University in 1953, took an assistant professorship atWinston-Salem Teacher’s College and then became an associate professor in 1954 atAlabama A & M College, where he taught government.[1][2][3]
While at Alabama A & M, Blackwell became a leader of the 1962 studentsit-ins in nearbyHuntsville, Alabama. He left academia in 1963 and became a field director in theVoter Education Project, an organization that promotedvoter registration among blacks in the South.[2][3] In March 1963, while attempting to register black voters inGreenwood, Mississippi withBob Moses and Jimmy Travis of theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the car they were driving was fired on. Blackwell and Moses escaped injury but Travis was shot and hospitalized;[5] the shooting brought national media attention to the struggle in the south, energized the civil rights movement, and forced theKennedy administration to investigate.[6] Blackwell became the program director of theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference in 1964, but after a disagreement withHosea Williams, he left the organization in 1966 and became the director of Southern Rural Action, ananti-poverty organization in theDeep South.[1][2][3][7][8]
From 1977 to 1979, in the presidency ofJimmy Carter, Blackwell was director of theOffice of Minority Business Enterprise in theU.S. Department of Commerce,[2][3] but was beset there by charges of mismanagement.[9]
In 1976, theKing Center for Nonviolent Social Change gave him its Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, and in 1978 theNational Bar Association gave him their Equal Justice Award.[2][3]
