[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 67 (Thursday, May 6, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRATULATING THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 5, 2010

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague to 
congratulate the National Urban League for 100 years of service to the 
people of America.
  The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was established on 
September 29, 1910, in New York City. This group later became the Urban 
League. The group was formed to address the needs of African-Americans 
escaping the oppressive Jim Crow South. Opportunities in the North were 
few and far between and de facto segregation had forced many blacks 
into marginal roles in society. These conditions were still preferable 
to the state-imposed second-class citizenship of the South. In its 
first 10 years, after mergers with other groups fighting for gender 
equality and worker safety, the Committee on Urban Conditions Among 
Negroes changed its name to the National Urban League.
  Even at its founding, the Urban League was an open and progressive 
organization. Mrs. Ruth Standish Baldwin, Dr. George Edmund Haynes and 
Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman of Columbia University all played 
critical leadership roles in the organization during its infancy.
  The organization counseled black migrants from the South, helped 
train black social workers, and worked in various other ways to bring 
educational and employment opportunities to blacks. Its research into 
the problems blacks faced in employment opportunities, recreation, 
housing, health and sanitation, and education spurred the League's 
quick growth. By the end of World War I the organization had 81 staff 
members working in 30 cities.
  The Urban League was a crucial supporter of A. Philip Randolph's 1941 
March on Washington Movement to fight discrimination in defense work 
and in the armed services. Additionally, the Urban League hosted, at 
its New York headquarters, the planning meetings of A. Philip Randolph, 
Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders for the 1963 
March on Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, throughout its history, the Urban League has been on the 
right side of America's most pressing issues. Whether it has been 
gender equality, workers' rights, or civil rights, America can count on 
the Urban League to hold it accountable to its promise of equality and 
opportunity for all citizens. Our country has been forever changed for 
the better by the efforts of the Urban League. All of our lives have 
been touched by and benefited from the work they have done and continue 
to do.

                          ____________________