A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph was the grandfather of the modern civil rights movement.
In 1925, Randolph began a long and strenuous campaign to organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). This was the first time a group of black workers forced recognition by their employers. The Brotherhood eventually won certification in 1937 and Randolph went on to become the first black vice-president of the AFL-CIO.
In 1941, Randolph's threat of a massive March on Washington to protest grievances led President Roosevelt to issue an executive order banning discrimination in defense industry jobs and government employment. Randolph also was a major force behind the 1963 March on Washington.
Throughout his entire life, Randolph was a coalition builder who fought for the rights of all working people, black, whites, Puerto Ricans, Indians, Mexican Americans, and others. It was in this spirit of coalition building that A. Philip Randolph co-founded the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Roy Wilkins 
Roy Wilkins began his distinguished civil rights career as an officer of the local Kansas City branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1920s. Wilkins was Executive Director of the National NAACP from 1955-1977 and then was named Executive Director Emeritus of the organization.
Wilkins was a symbol of moderation in the turbulent civil rights scene of the 1960s. His ability to get action where others failed earned him a reputation as master strategist and statesman in the cause of civil rights. Wilkins was given numerous awards for his efforts on behalf of equal opportunity for all including the Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civil honor.
Wilkins was a co-founder of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, where the legacy of his struggle for equality lives on.
Arnold Aronson
Arnold Aronson came to the civil rights movement as a leader of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC), a coalition of national and local Jewish agencies. Serving as NJCRAC's program director, he developed policies and programs for Jewish agency involvement with issues of civil rights, civil liberties, immigration reform, church state separation, Soviet-Jewish immigration, and support for Israel.
Since that time, Aronson played a major role in Leadership Conference strategy for obtaining enactment of the major federal civil rights laws over the past forty years. Aronson is also a founding father of a number of other civil rights organizations including, the National Urban Coalition, the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, and the National Association of Human Rights Workers.
Until his death, Mr. Aronson was President of the Leadership Conference Education Fund, which under his leadership, while continuing its traditional activities as a research and clearinghouse for civil rights issues, has focused increasingly on programs to develop positive intergroup attitudes among young children.
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