The Urban League of Central Carolinas is a multi-service, non-profit Agency, organized in 1978. Its mission is to promote economic self-sufficiency among African-American families and others, and racial inclusion in our community.

Urban League History
In 1978, community leaders, elected officials, clergy and other concerned citizens came together to explore the need for an organization that would help ensure the economic self-sufficiency of the area’s African-American citizens and racial inclusion. In accordance with the guidelines of the National Urban League, a study of the “State of African Americans in Charlotte-Mecklenburg” was conducted.

The assessment indicated a need for workforce development and advocacy for black workers, who were too often underemployed and unemployed.The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Urban League, was incorporated November 6, 1978. A multi-service, non-profit agency, it became the 116th affiliate of the National Urban League, the 31st in the South, and the 4th in the Carolinas.

In January 1999, the Urban League moved into its current home at 740 West 5th Street in Charlotte, North Carolina and officially changed its name to Urban League of the Central Carolinas. The name change reflects the League’s growing impact on the greater community through adult and youth training, and collaboration with others. For 25 years, the Urban League has provided meaningful programs and activities developed to promote economic well-being among African- Americans and others, and to promote racial inclusion in the Charlotte region.

"The Legacy of A Movement"
Artist - Tommie Robinson
Oil on Canvas - 2002

The Urban League of Central Carolinas commissioned Tommie Robinson to develop an artistic centerpiece for its home in Uptown Charlotte, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the agency in service to this community.

The Urban League directive was simple: to "illustrate the Urban League's legacy." To that end, Robinson produced the work you see here, which is appropriately titled, "The Legacy of A Movement."

Robinson portrays this "Legacy" under the watchful eyes of the National Urban League founders, Ruth Standish and George Edmund Haynes.

Their creation was designed to protect newly arriving migrants from rampant exploitation and to assist their transition from rural agrarian to an urban industrial lifestyle.

Robinson's Urban League odyssey swings from sharecropping families abandoning Southern fields to board trains northward to new beginnings, new opportunities. And now, almost a century later, that original NUL mission has spread nationwide and has positively impacted millions of individuals and the nation as a whole.

The 70”x 64” painting was made possible, in part, through a grant from the Arts and Science Council. It hangs on the second floor of the corporate offices of Urban League of Central Carolinas and can be viewed between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm weekdays.

Click here for more ULCC History