Asa Philip Randolph, labor leader, and civil-rights leader, was born in Crescent City, FL, on this date April 15, 1889.
Randolph who was an influential figure in the struggle for justice and equality for African Americans. He was the organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and began organizing that group of Black workers. At a time when half the affiliates of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) barred Blacks from membership, Asa Phillip Randolph took his union into the AFL.
Despite opposition, he built the first successful Black trade union; the brotherhood won its first major contract with the Pullman Company in 1937.
He warned Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt that he would lead thousands of Blacks in a protest march on Washington, D.C.; Roosevelt, on June 25, 1941, issued Executive Order 8802, barring discrimination in defense industries and federal bureaus and creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee.
“Bushnell wrote a will in which he left his savings to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Perhaps he had watched the hearing of a case in federal court in California, brought by Defense for Children International-Palestine in an attempt to stop the Biden Administration from continuing to aid the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Perhaps he saw the U.S. government argue that there is no legal pathway for citizens to stop the government from providing military aid, even if it can be shown that the aid is used to genocidal ends.”
Like the origin of Easter, the origin of the Easter Bunny has roots that go back to pre-Christian, Anglo-Saxon history. The holiday was originally a pagan celebration that worshipped the goddess Eastre. She was the goddess of fertility and springtime and her earthly symbol was the rabbit.
Thus the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons worshipped the rabbit believing it to be Eastre’s earthly incarnation.
When the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity, the pagan holiday, which occurred around the same time as the Christian memorial of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, was combined with the Christian celebration and given the name Easter.
Originally, there were some very pagan practices that went along with the Easter celebration. Today, Easter is often commercialized, with all the focus on eggs, the Easter bunny, etc.
Because of this, many churches are starting to refer to it as Resurrection Day.
