The National Urban League (NUL) is an organization that was established to eliminate racial discrimination and segregation, assisting African Americans and other minorities to take part in all aspects of American life. The NUL was founded on October 11, 1910, to enable African American migrants from the South to adapt to Northern urban life.

The National Urban League grew out of the nineteenth century Great Migration period. When the U.S. Supreme Court declared its approval of segregation in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, what had been a trickle of African Americans moving northward became a flood. At that time, the degree of difference between the South and the North was tremendous in terms of the treatment and opportunities for African Americans.

The NUL began with the merger of three smaller groups; The National League for the Protection of Colored Women, The Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions for Negroes in New York, and the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes in New York.

All three groups were dedicated to helping African American urban newcomers, mainly from the South, expand their employment, housing, healthcare, and educational opportunities. Two individuals advanced at this point to provide leadership – one Negro, one white; one man, one woman – and together, they founded the National Urban League. Their names were Ruth Standish Baldwin and George Edmund Haynes.

The multiracial character of the Urban League that they established was the guiding principle to promote positive interracial interaction that helped persuade whites that they should work with African Americans for mutual advantage.

Throughout the Great Depression, the Urban League crusaded for the integration of blacks into segregated labor unions and for inclusion in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s new deal programs that were aimed at fostering economic recovery. During World War II, the league continued to fight for integration of the trade unions, particularly those involved in defense work and in the armed services. After the war, the league worked with businesses to train black workers for various trades and to encourage Fortune 500 companies to participate in job fairs held on black college campuses.

Fast forwarding to the year 2000, the league renamed its Washington Operations Office as the Institute for Opportunity and Equality. The Institute conducts research, analyzes policy, and advocates for significant issues including employment, criminal justice, community development, and economic policy.

In April 2003, the Urban League named Marc Morial as interim president and chief executive officer to replace Hugh B. Price who resigned in November 2002. The new president would oversee the operations of the league, which in 2003 had a budget of more than $40 million and was the oldest and largest community-based U.S. organization dedicated to helping blacks achieve racial and economic parity.

Today, the National Urban League has 113 affiliates in 34 states and Washington, D.C. The National Urban League provides direct services in the areas of education, health care, housing, jobs, and justice, improving the lives of more than 2 million people nationwide. The Washington Bureau serves as its research, policy and advocacy arm on issues relating to Congress and the Administration.