National Urban League

National Urban League logo

The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest community-based organization of its kind in the nation. Its current President is Marc Morial.

History

The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was founded in New York City on September 29, 1910 by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others.[1] It merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York (founded in New York in 1906) and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (founded in 1905), and was renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.[2][3]

In 1918, Eugene K. Jones took the leadership of the organization. Under his direction, the League significantly expanded its multifaceted campaign to crack the barriers to black employment, spurred first by the boom years of the 1920s, and then by the desperate years of the Great Depression.[4]

In 1920, the organization took the present name, the National Urban League.[5] The mission of the Urban League movement, as stated by the National Urban League, is "to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights."[6]

In 1941, Lester Granger was appointed Executive Secretary and led the NUL's effort to support the March on Washington proposed by A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and A. J. Muste to protest racial discrimination in defense work and the military.[7] During the African-American Civil Rights Movement, Granger prevailed in his insistence that the NUL continue its strategy of "education and persuasion".

In 1961, Whitney Young became executive director amidst the expansion of activism in the civil rights movement, which provoked a change for the League. Young substantially expanded the League's fund-raising ability- and made the League a full partner in the civil rights movement. In 1963, the NUL hosted the planning meetings of A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders for the March on Washington. During Young's ten-year tenure at the League, he initiated programs such as "Street Academy," an alternative education system to prepare high school dropouts for college; and "New Thrust," an effort to help local black leaders identify and solve community problems. Young also pushed for federal aid to cities.

Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., was from 1975 to 1981, the head of the Urban League in San Diego, California. In 1981, U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan tapped Pendleton as the chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a position which he held until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton sought to steer the commission into the conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policies.[8]

In 1994, Hugh Price was appointed as president of the Urban League.

In 2003, Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, was appointed the league's eighth President and Chief Executive Officer. He worked to reenergize the movement's diverse constituencies by building on the legacy of the organization and increasing the profile of the organization.

Current status

Today, the National Urban League has 93 affiliates serving 300 communities, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people nationwide.

The National Urban League is an organizational member of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which advocates gun control. In 1989, it was the beneficiary of all proceeds from the Stop the Violence Movement and their hip hop single, "Self Destruction".

In February 2010 the Urban League of Essex County, New Jersey announced a partnership with the National Association of Professional Women to form a national "Open Doorways" project. It is designed to offer inner-city middle-school girls a chance to work with professional women as role models.[9]

Presidents

The Presidents (or Executive Directors) of the National Urban League have been:

Presidents From To Background
George Edmund Haynes 1910 1918 social worker
Eugene Kinckle Jones 1918 1940 civil rights activist
Lester Blackwell Granger 1941 1961 civic leader
Whitney Moore Young, Jr. 1961 1971 civil rights activist
Vernon Eulion Jordan, Jr. 1971 1981 attorney
John Edward Jacob 1982 1994 civil rights activist
Hugh Bernard Price 1994 2002 attorney
foundation executive
Milton James Little, Jr. 2003 2003 social worker
administrator
Marc Haydel Morial 2003 Current attorney

Publications

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Parris, Guichard and Lester Brooks. Blacks in the City: A History of the National Urban League. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1971. p. 28.
  2. ↑ Dodson, N. "NEW CHAPTER IN SOCIAL UPLIFT." Afro-American (1893-1988): 2. Dec 30 1911. ProQuest. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
  3. ↑ Parris, Guichard and Lester Brooks. Blacks in the City: A History of the National Urban League. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1971. pp. 32-34.
  4. ↑ Armfield, Felix L. Eugene Kinckle Jones: The National Urban League and Black Social Work, 1910-1940. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2012.
  5. ↑ Parris, Guichard and Lester Brooks. Blacks in the City: A History of the National Urban League. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1971.
  6. ↑ "Mission and History." National Urban League. Accessed 6 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Jesse. "Urban League Bulletin." The Atlanta Constitution (1881-1945): 1. Jan 25 1942. ProQuest. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
  8. ↑ "Notable Kentucky African Americans Database". uky.edu. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Inner-City Middle School Girls from Newark, NJ Receive Career and Life-Goals Advice from Professional Women" (Press release). National Association of Professional Women. February 24, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2013.

Further reading

Archives

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