Dear Friend,

Black history has never been a straight line of progress. Every gain has been met with resistance. Every expansion of opportunity followed by an effort to roll it back.

That’s where we find ourselves again.

As we mark Black History Month, hard-won civil rights and economic progress are being quietly undone—protections weakened, equity dismantled, and opportunity narrowed for millions of Black families. That’s why the National Urban League has declared a State of Emergency—because progress is under attack, and the threat is real, accelerating, and deliberate.

For more than 115 years, we have answered moments like this with action. When access to opportunity is threatened, we build pathways forward. When systems fail our communities, we step in with solutions that deliver stability, dignity, and economic power.

This is Black history in action, Friend. Not frozen in the past but carried forward by people like you who refuse to let progress be erased.

Black History Month is not only about honoring the past. It’s about defending the progress generations fought to achieve and extending it forward.

The National Urban League is responding.

As we always have.

And we invite you to be part of that response.

With determination,
 

Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League