National Urban League

The Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women were both founded in 1906 and later became predecessor organizations of the league.⁠[1][2]

The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was founded in 1910 to help Black migrants from the rural South find work and settle in northern cities. Its establishment was led by George Edmund Haynes, an African American, and Ruth Standish Baldwin, a white New York City philanthropist.⁠[1][2][3]

Haynes served as executive secretary from 1910 to 1918; his Department of Social Science at Fisk University ran the Bethlehem Training Center, where students did field work with league affiliates in cities including Philadelphia, St. Louis and Nashville.⁠[3]

In 1911 the three organizations merged to form the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, headquartered in New York City.⁠[1]

Ruth Standish Baldwin was president of the board of trustees from 1913 to 1915. In 1913 Eugene Kinckle Jones led a meeting of Black leaders with Samuel GompersSamuel GompersSamuel Gompers (1850–1924) was an American labor leader, a founder and the first president of the American Federation of Labor, which he led for nearly four decades while promoting “pure and simple” unionism focused on wages, hours and working conditions.Open the full entry, president of the American Federation of LaborAmerican Federation of LaborThe American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a federation of U.S. labor unions founded in 1886 by craft unions led by Samuel Gompers. In 1955 it merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the AFL-CIO.Open the full entry, a first step toward organizing Black labor.⁠[3]

Between 1915 and 1920 more than one million Black Southerners moved North and West, increasing demands on the league. Causes included a crisis in the farm economy brought on by boll weevil infestation, northern demand for industrial workers and the Jim Crow laws of the South.⁠[4]

Eugene Kinckle Jones led the league from 1918 to 1941. By 1920 the organization had adopted the shorter name National Urban League.⁠[1]

From 1910 through the 1930s the league focused on services for people seeking jobs and housing and lobbied to end discrimination in federal policies and the labor movement. From 1923 to 1948 it published the magazine Opportunity.⁠[2]

The league began as a social service group focused on resettlement in the North and later lobbied businesses, labor unions and government and sponsored sociological research challenging the belief that African Americans were inferior.⁠[4]

Lester Granger led the league from 1941 to 1961. During World War II, as many Black people moved to northern industrial cities for war work, the league grew in size and influence.⁠[1][2]

Whitney M. Young Jr. became executive director in 1961 and led the league until 1971. In 1963 the league sponsored the March on Washington.⁠[2][1]

Young worked to end employment discrimination in the South and moved the league toward more active civil rights advocacy; it took part in the Poor People’s Campaign and endorsed direct-action protest during the civil rights movement. The National Park Service regards his “Marshall Plan” for urban renewal as one of his most lasting contributions.⁠[4]

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. led the league from 1971 to 1981 and John Edward Jacob from 1981 to 1994; both established community programs.⁠[1][3][2]

In 2003 Marc H. Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, became president and CEO and oversaw a revitalization effort that included the State of Black America report.⁠[2]

Morial was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002; he holds a degree in economics and African American studies from the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania, commonly called Penn, is a private research university and Ivy League member in Philadelphia. It traces its origins to a 1740 charity-school project; Benjamin Franklin proposed his academy in 1749, classes began in 1751, and a 1791 merger established the institution under its present name. Penn has 12 schools, with undergraduate education concentrated in arts and sciences, engineering, nursing and Wharton. Enrollment totaled 29,384 in fall 2025, and the fiscal 2025 endowment was $24.81 billion. As of October 2026, J. Larry Jameson was president, with his term scheduled to end on June 30, 2027.Open the full entry and a law degree from Georgetown University.⁠[5]

From 2020 the league helped people locate COVID-19 vaccinations and health care. In 2024 the National Urban League Young Professionals had more than 10,000 members in 64 chapters.⁠[2]

As of November 2026 Marc H. Morial is president and CEO. The league describes itself as “the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization,” with 90 affiliates serving 300 communities and providing direct services to more than two million people nationwide; its headquarters is at 117 West 125th Street in New York City.⁠[5][6]

The league has its main headquarters in New York and a bureau in Washington, D.C., and its local units have their own boards and budgets. By the late 20th century more than 110 local affiliates were active. The National Park Service counts it among the five civil rights organizations known as the “Big Five” and describes it as one of the oldest civil rights organizations still active.⁠[2][1][4]

National Urban League: Official website: https://nul.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NatUrbanLeague (opens in a new window).⁠[5]