Channing E. Phillips, minister, social activist and the first African American placed in nomination for President of the United States by a major party, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Phillips was a founding member of the Coalition of Conscience, a conglomeration of local organizations working to alleviate social problems in Washington, D.C.
He led the D.C. delegation to the 1968 Democratic National Convention and, after the death of Robert Kennedy, on August 28, 1968 Phillips was nominated as a favorite son candidate and received 68 votes. Phillip said that his candidacy was meant to show that “the Negro vote must not be taken for granted.” Phillips was also the president of the Housing Development Corporation, a government backed housing venture in the capital. Phillips died November 11, 1987.
The Rev. Channing E. Phillips, a civil rights leader and the first black to be placed in nomination for the Presidency of the United States by a major political party, died of cancer at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He was 59 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Phillips had been minister of planning and coordination of the Riverside Church in Manhattan since 1982.
