“Be not dismayed in these terrible times,” Randolph exhorted the black community. “You possess power, great power. The Negro stake in national defense is big. It consists of jobs, thousands of jobs. It consists of new industrial opportunities and hope. This is worth fighting for . . . . To this end we propose that 10,000 Negroes march on Washington . . . . We call upon President Roosevelt . . . to follow in the footsteps of his noble and illustrious predecessor [Lincoln] and take the second decisive step to free America—an executive order to abolish discrimination in the work place. One thing
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