Formed in 1910 as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, NUL is a major social service and civil rights organization. Today, with more than 100 local affiliates in 35 states, it pursues the well-being of blacks and the disadvantaged regardless of color.

Its motto “Not Alms But Opportunity” guided NUL programs. Black sociologist George E. Haynes, later a Fisk University professor, became the first director (1918); he prioritized equal education, employment, and housing. Affiliates formed in the nation's largest cities. Undertaking research and publishing Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life (1923–48), the league fought racial discrimination in trade and industrial unions, the civil service, and Armed Forces. During the directorship of Whitney M. Young Jr. (1961–71), it helped define federal civil rights policy, the War on Poverty, and affirmative action. After the 1960s Los Angeles and other riots, it won more aid to families with dependent children; job training for high school dropouts; and partnered on job placement, voter registration, and welfare projects. Director Vernon E. Jordan Jr. (1972–81) not only expanded such initiatives and started an annual report, The State of Black America; he also obtained significant donations from corporations.