Founded in by A. Philip Randolph in 1925, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The BSCP gathered a membership of 18,000 passenger railway workers across Canada, The United States and Mexico.

The leaders of the BSCP—including A. Philip Randolph, its founder, and first president, and C. L. Dellums, it's vice president and second president—became leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and continued to play a significant role in it after it focused on the eradication of segregation in the Southern United States. BSCP members such as E. D. Nixon were among the leaders of local movements by virtue of their organizing experience, constant movement between communities and freedom from economic dependence on local authorities.