About the National Urban League

The National Urban League is the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement empowering over 2 million African Americans and others in need each year to enter the economic and social mainstream. Founded in 1910 and recognized as the premier social service and civil rights organization in America, the NUL, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the nonprofit, nonpartisan movement, while Urban League affiliates operate in more than 100 cities in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

The League implements its mission through advocacy, bridge building, research and programs in education, job training and placement, housing, business development and other important areas.

The National Urban League has a mandate to speak out on public issues on behalf of its constituents. Some major policy stands are the National Full-Employment Policy; Parental Empowerment; and Guaranteed Minimum Standards for the Poor.

A Brief History of The National Urban League

When Blacks began leaving the farms of the South at the turn of the century, to look for better lives in the cities, they needed help to adjust to the rigors of urban life and to learn survival skills. To provide that help, the Committee of Urban was established. Conditions Among Negroes came into being in 1910 in New York City as an outgrowth of the consolidation of several organizations. These were the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions of Negroes in New York (1905), the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (1905), and the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes in New York (1910). This merger was the beginning of what is now known as the National Urban League. In its early years, the League trained Black social workers, participated in travelers aid work in five cities, and conducted studies of social and economic conditions among Blacks. Among its early accomplishments, the League negotiated the appointment of Black interns in a New York City hospital, set up New York’s first free employment service and established the first scholarship for Black social workers at the New York School of Social Work, Fisk University and other schools.

The National Urban League, always a coalition of concerned Black and White citizens, was the first to recognize the special problems and needs of all people as the nation became more urbanized. The National Urban League also recognized that these newcomers to the cities were faced with an additional burden — the impact of racism. Therefore, creating and providing opportunities for urban Blacks to learn, to work and to live, became the tasks of the National Urban League. This
led to meetings with business leaders, opening up — for the first time — job opportunities in industry for non-Whites. It led to a conference with Samuel Gompers in 1913 to seek acceptance of Blacks by organized labor.

As the country moved into the roaring twenties, the League expanded to Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Memphis, and Louisville. By the time the depression of the 1930’s arrived, there were League offices in 44 cities. Those difficult depression years were hardest on Black people. Responding to these time, Leagues ran employment programs, provided youth recreation facilities, distributed food and led health campaigns.

During World War II, through its Industrial Relations Laboratory, the NUL served as a trouble shooter and consultant on racial problems in defense work. From 1940 to 1943, over 150,000 Black people were placed on jobs never open to them before. By the end of the war, 257 of the 300 company management's pledged to continue wartime personnel practices. League activities were expanded in other areas after World War II; helping two-thirds of a million people in housing, health, personal and family problems. By the 1950’s negotiations were conducted with industrial and business concerns and with trade union leaders in 132 cities to develop job opportunities other than those traditionally open to Black people. By the late 1950’s an annual Equal Opportunity Day Dinner was conceived to demonstrate the progress achieved, the need for further effort, and the cooperation
between labor and management to further the concept of equality.

The National Urban League today is a non-profit community service organization whose mission is to enable Blacks and other minority citizens to achieve and exercise their full potential equally with all other Americans by working with existing institutions to make them more responsive; mobilizing and organizing minorities to work toward system change where present systems are deemed inadequate and where there is a need to develop new and stronger Black institutions committed to assuring the effective delivery of community services to Blacks.