ing to leave the Urban League anytime soon. When he
learned that I was under consideration for the United Negro
College Fund, he urged me to take the job. And when I did,
he welcomed me to New York City, counseled me on the
mores of the city’s business and activist community, and
made sure I met many of his own friends and supporters. His
counsel and confidence in me were invaluable.

Succeeding my friend and mentor at the Urban League

was a daunting responsibility. It added even more drama to
the anticipation of my first speech as executive director at the
organization’s  annual conference in Detroit. The speech
was to prove me a worthy successor to Whitney.

The speech, scheduled for the conference’s gala dinner on its

final evening, was my coming-out party. Even though I had
been involved in civil rights work for nearly a decade, I was un-
known to the Urban League family. There was great curiosity
and many questions, in part because I was not a professional
social worker. All of my predecessors—the four previous Ur-
ban League executive directors, including Whitney—had been
certified social workers, and the Urban League had always
emphasized its social-service capability. So in giving this
speech, I was on trial, like a preacher giving his first sermon.
But I was prepared.

Sitting on the dais in Detroit’s cavernous Cobo Hall, await-

ing my turn to speak, I felt an invigorating tension, the kind of
tension that makes you eager to get to the task at hand. But
there was also apprehension among some members of the

Urban League Beginnings

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