The Guide for Colored Travelers: A Reflection of the Urban League

In 1929 Sadie Harrison, Secretary of The Negro Welfare Council, received a letter from W. E. B. DuBois asking her Could you tell me if there is a colored boarding house in New London? I expect to be driving through November 14 and would like to spend the night. If you known (sic) of such a place that you could recommend, I would appreciate the address. DuBois was Harvard educated, and his offices for his eminent publication, Crisis, had a Fifth Avenue address, but this mattered not at all when he traveled in white America. DuBois was in luck, since Harrison at that time was putting together a guide for the African-American automobile traveler. She was able to tell him where he could find a room in New London, painlessly and with dignity. Creating such a guide, eventually called The Hackley & Harrison's Hotel and Apartment Guide for Colored Travelers: Board, Rooms, Garage Accommodations, etc. in 300 Cities in the United States and Canada, doubtless required a great deal of work, but apparently the Negro Welfare Council of New London felt it was a worthwhile project (Hackley 3). The Negro Welfare Council was nearly ubiquitous in 1930 in its many guises and shapes. Also called the Negro Urban League, it served many purposes in the African-American community and provided a nation-wide connection between various areas of the country. Despite the fact that the Guide makes no mention of the League, other than that the author was Secretary of the New London Chapter, it is safe to assume the League played a substantial role in the creation of the Guide. The publication and content of the Guide is a direct reflection of the Urban League's mission, which was, in short, to aid in the socializing of urban blacks and to win a place for blacks in society. What was the role of the Urban League, not only during the 1920's, which concerns this inquiry, but also during the years after to its inception in 1911 ? Following WWI the racial climate in America had worsened for African Americans. The job growth that had inspired the Great Migration slowed drastically, and white employers fired blacks and hired whites in their stead when there was a shortage of positions because of the large number of returning veterans. Although there were substantial decreases in the number of lynchings during the years immediately before the War, 1917 saw 36 lynchings of African Americans; by the end of the War, in 1919, 76 people were murdered in such a way. The race riots immediately following the War were unprecedented in their violence and ferocity. Subsequently, many African-American leaders called for a lower profile in many aspects of life, recommending a policy bent upon survival rather than confrontation. The resurgence of America's racism created even more urgency for such a guide (Weiss 67). A college educated and affluent group of whites and blacks had founded the Urban League. The organization saw itself having a different role than that of the NAACP. Indeed, the latter was described as the "War Department" and the former as the "State Department" (Weiss 67). The role of the Urban League was to help people survive day-to-day in their new lives in the Northern cities. For example, the Urban League found and provided housing for women moving North for work and to keep them from falling victim to predators, who were literally waiting for them to get off the bus. In fact, one of the organizations consolidated to create the League was a travelers aid society called the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (NLPCW) (Weiss 27-- 28).1 The Urban League's original membership came chiefly out of the Progressive Movement, campaigning for reforms in areas such as housing, child labor, and factories right after the turn of the century. The League's white members, largely Northerners and descendants of abolitionist families, were often Quakers, Jews, or Unitarians. Approximately a quarter of the members of the Board were women, more than sixty percent of both white and African-American members had actually graduated college, and the average age was fifty. …