Norman Hill

Norman Hill was born in 1933 in Summit, New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Haverford College in 1956, one of Haverford's first black graduates. After finishing military service, he joined the civil rights movement in Chicago and served as Chicago Coordinator, Youth March for Integrated Schools; Secretary, Chicago Area Negro American Labor Council; Staff Chairman, Chicago March Conventions; and Secretary of the Chicago Wade-Ins, integrating Rainbow Beach. Mr. Hill then joined the staff of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), first as East Coast Field Secretary, then as National Program Director from 1961 to 1964. He coordinated the Route 40 (from Baltimore to Washington, D.C) restaurant desegregation campaign, as well as the Waldorf Astoria, A&P Stores and Trailways Bus Company campaigns. In addition, he planned and directed the civil rights demonstration at the 1964 Republican National Convention.

Working with Bayard Rustin, the coordinator of the 1963 March on Washington, Mr. Hill initiated coalitions that mobilized participants from Baltimore, Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and St. Paul. He represented James Farmer, the National Director of CORE, on the March on Washington Policy Board. From 1964 to 1967, Mr. Hill served as Legislative Representative and Civil Rights Liaison of the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO. He helped to coordinate Dr. Martin Luther King's six-city 1964 get-out-the-vote tour. He lobbied to increase the minimum wage and was in the labor delegation on the Selma-Montgomery March against racial discrimination in voting in the deep South.

In 1965 Mr. Hill was one of the key planners of the Joint Apprenticeship Program, sponsored by APRI and the Workers Defense League. This program became the Recruitment and Training Program and was dedicated to the interest of minority participation in the building trades and construction industry. From 1967 to 1974, Norman Hill was Associate Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. In this capacity, he helped coordinate the Memphis March at the time of Dr. King's assassination in 1968. Mr. Hill became Executive Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1975. Since 1980, Mr. Hill has served as President of the APRI. Since joining the staff of APRI, Mr. Hill has organized over 200 local A. Philip Randolph Institute affiliate chapters across the country. These local groups are engaged in non-partisan voter participation, assist unions in organizing drives, do grassroots lobbying on issues committed with the mutual interest of the black-labor alliance, and a wide variety of programs of benefit to their communities. The membership of APRI local affiliates consists of rank-and file union members and all local APRI programs are conducted by volunteers.