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| Urban League's early years exploredNot Alms but Opportunity: The Urban League & the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950by Dr, Toure F. Reed University of North Carolina Press ISBN: 978-0-8078-5902-5 Reviewed by Mike Matejka The relationship between organized labor and African-Americans is a sometimes inspiring, sometime tortured story. 
A. Phillip Randolph organized the predominately African-American Pullman Porters in the early 1930s and then fought against internal discrimination within the AFL-CIO. Many unions maintained “whites only” clauses until the 1960s. A new book by Illinois State University Professor Toure Reed examines this story through the records of the Chicago and New York Urban Leagues, from their founding through the 1950s. As African-Americans escaped the sharecropper South, they were often ill-prepared for big city life. The Urban League struggled for decent employment, housing and recreation for these migrants. The League recognized union jobs as a sure route to economic security, but how to respond when unions refused admittance? In many cases, African-Americans were used as strike breakers and were encouraged to do so, since union ranks were closed to them. Sometimes the League encouraged this response, but it also continually sought an open door to labor. With the CIO 1930s mass industry organizing, which drew no color or gender lines, a relationship was built, although employers and some unions continued to discriminate. The League emphasized uplift and middle class values as a key to success. It often shied away from protest movements. Its valiant efforts occasionally drew results and laid a foundation for inclusion that continues today. This well-detailed history tells a complex story well, as Americans continues to struggle in its inclusive efforts. |