The National Urban League ( NUL ), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes , is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for 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 .
18-726: 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. 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
36-621: A Washington Bureau that serves as its research, policy and advocacy arm on issues relating to Congress and the Administration. 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 May 2017,
54-743: A permanent position on the board of trustees at Smith College, serving on the board from 1906 to 1926. "The business of the College, transacted in the presence of a mind so clear and sympathies so ardent, undergoes a change," wrote a colleague at Smith. "To express at all what Mrs. Baldwin is and what she has given Smith College would require more space and more art than the present writer has at her command." Bowles married railroad tycoon William Henry Baldwin Jr. in 1889. They had two children, also named Ruth and William. Her daughter married artist John Fulton Folinsbee . Her husband died in 1905, and she died in 1934, at
72-569: A rising civil rights activist recruited by Jones. Jones played a significant role in President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's administration, taking leave from the League to head the Department of Commerce unit for the study of "Negro problems", and serving as part of a group of African-American advisors known as the " Black Cabinet ". In 1941, Lester Granger was appointed Executive Secretary and led
90-612: A social worker and attorney, to form the National League for the Protection of Colored Women in order to protect women migrating to the north who might be "easy targets for con men who could lead them into prostitution". The NLPCW organized to steer women into safe employment instead. She founded the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negros with George Edmund Haynes in 1910. She wrote of the principles behind her work: Let us work together, not as colored people, nor as white people, for
108-890: Is an annual report published by the league. The presidents (or executive directors) of the National Urban League have been: Ruth Standish Baldwin Ruth Standish Bowles Baldwin (December 5, 1865 – December 14, 1934) was an American suffragist and a co-founder of the National Urban League . Ruth Standish Bowles was born in Ludlow, Massachusetts , the daughter of journalist and abolitionist Samuel Bowles III and Mary Sanford Dwight Schermerhorn Bowles. Her parents were friends with poet Emily Dickinson and her family. She graduated from Smith College in 1887. In 1905, Baldwin joined with Frances Kellor ,
126-564: The City of New Orleans ( French : Maire de La Nouvelle-Orléans ) has been held by the following individuals since New Orleans came under American administration following the Louisiana Purchase — the 1803 acquisition by the U.S. of 828,800 square miles (2,147,000 km ) of the French province La Louisiane . In all mayoral elections since 1930, New Orleans has used a two-round system with
144-560: 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
162-651: 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. A week before the March was scheduled to take place, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee . In the wake of World War II , Black veterans who fought racial hatred overseas returned to
180-484: The National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. Haynes served as the organization's first Executive Director. 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 . In 1920,
198-617: The National Urban League produced the State of Black America TV Town Hall, which aired on TV One in 2017 and 2018. The TV Town Hall elevated social issues related to African Americans through an interview style format with celebrity guests. The show was executive produced by Rhonda Spears Bell. In February 2018, the National Urban League launched a weekly podcast, For the Movement , which discusses persistent policy, social and civil rights issues affecting communities of color. The State of Black America
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#1732845075851216-524: The United States determined to fight it at home, giving new energy to the Civil Rights Movement . As hundreds of thousands of new jobs opened up, shifting the economy from industrial manufacturing to a white-collar, service-oriented economy, the National Urban League turned its attention to placing HBCU graduates in professional positions. In 1961, Whitney Young became executive director amidst
234-510: The age of 69, in New York. The economist Samuel Bowles is her grand-nephew, son of her nephew Chester B. Bowles , who was notable as a governor of Connecticut and an ambassador. Ruth Standish Baldwin and George Haynes are honored as founders of the National Urban League with a plaque on the Extra Mile Path in Washington, D.C. List of mayors of New Orleans The post of Mayor of
252-478: 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 in the conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policies. In 1994, Hugh Price was appointed as president of the Urban League. In 2003, Marc Morial , former mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana , was appointed
270-559: 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 League hosted the planning meetings of A. Philip Randolph , Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders for the August March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . During Young's ten-year tenure at
288-593: 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. Today, the National Urban League has 92 affiliates serving 300 communities, in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The National Urban League provides direct services in the areas of education, health care, housing, jobs, and justice—providing services to more than 3 million people nationwide. The organization also has
306-418: The narrow benefit of any group alone, but together, as American citizens for the common good of our common city, our common country. From this work, Baldwin became a co-founder of the National Urban League, and chair of the league's board from 1913 to 1915. She helped found Highlander Folk School at the end of her life. She corresponded with Booker T. Washington . Baldwin was the first woman elected to
324-420: The organization took its present name, the National Urban League. 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." When the organization expanded its facilities to conduct more research in 1920, the new Department of Research came under the charge of Lillian Anderson Turner Alexander ,
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