Longtime civil and labor rights activist. Fifty years ago, he and his wife, Velma, helped organize the nonviolent protest at the New York World’s Fair that sought to highlight discriminatory hiring practices at the fair and at exhibiting companies. At the time, he was the national program director for the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE. He went on to work with the AFL-CIO before becoming president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. He and his wife, Velma, are working on a memoir about love and activism called Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain.