Urban League of Greater Madison

The National Urban League emerged as a result of Black Migrations, a spontaneous, grassroots movement to achieve freedom and opportunity. The US Supreme Court validated racial segregation using the Plessy-v. Ferguson 1896 judgment. The movement, initially undertaken by a small number of African Americans fleeing the south, became a mass migration. The new arrivals soon learned that they still faced racial discrimination in jobs, housing, and education. In 1910, the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes in New York City was formed. There, blacks who remained optimistic about the future came together. The Committee combined with two agencies to form the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes in 1911, which was named the National Urban League in 1920. In the late 1960s, four Madisonians commissioned a needs assessment to assess the increasing Black population in the city. The Friends of the Urban League had nearly 40 participants by year-end. The organization requested funds for an Urban League. The National Urban League denied the request by the Friends of the Urban League to affiliate. Madison was the birthplace of the movement for justice, education, and equality.