African American Studies 101

Parker, Elle, Mason, & Justin

The Tacoma Urban League was created in 1968 to support and assist African Americans and other marginalized people to obtain equality and economic independence. It was modeled after the Seattle Urban League by Thomas Dixon and a board of members who decided Tacoma was ready for an Urban League.

History of the Tacoma Urban League

This Urban League currently has six programs to aid African Americans in closing the gap between African Americans and white people.

1. 1. Male Involvement Program: Run by John Levi and Joseph Womack, MIP helps and mentors middle school boys with anger and conflict management, and learning how to understand emotions and feelings in a safe space.
   2. Girls with Purpose: GWP works with middle-school girls to empower them to succeed educationally and socially through mentoring.
   3. Career Empowerment Academy: This academy holds evening classes to formulate career paths and create connections with businesses and industries.
   4. Budget and Finance Workshops: These workshops provide meaningful education about finances such as credit card debt, household budgets, savings, and checking accounts.
   5. Home Ownership Program: Owning a home is the simplest way to grow wealth, and so the Home Ownership program works with people to begin the process of owning a home.
   6. Black Empowerment Center: An independent organization that works with the Tacoma Urban League with the goal of closing the wealth gap between African Americans and white people.
      3. “Overall, it’s been discovered that it will take African Americans 242 years to catch up to white wealth if white wealth stopped accumulating today” (Adriane, Black Empowerment Center Coordinator).

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2. 4. Double-Consciousness: Dr. W.E.B DuBois coined the concept of Double Consciousness as the ability, only possessed by a black person, to see America, and its relationship to yourself, through the eyes of others. This Double Consciousness must be constantly utilized by black people in order for them to interact with and be prepared for the world as a white person can without Double Consciousness.

   5. “It’s not because black people don’t have an education, it’s not because we don’t have motivation, it’s not because our priorities are jacked up. It’s because of the systemic barriers that we face, such as gentrification, redlining, and the constant displacement of African Americans in Tacoma.”

   6. – Adriane Wilson, Black Empowerment Center Coordinator

   8. Tacoma Urban League was created to, “Help achieve social equality and economic independence…” for the African American community in Tacoma (https://thetacomaurbanleague.org). Currently sharing a building with the Black Empowerment Center, the League prides itself on offering cultural reinforcement and development to the community. In relation to W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of double consciousness or, “two-ness of thought” wherein black people live in struggle to balance the stereotypes and beliefs created and maintained by white America against their individual sense of self. The Tacoma Urban League is a place wherein black people can be without the often harmful expectations of American culture present throughout our society, specifically in Tacoma. Through their current Male Involvement and Girls With Purpose Program, the League provides safe spaces for black youth to foster discussion on identity and offers mentorship opportunities to reinforce the cultural pride and confidence in being African American, rather than having to weigh one’s identity against the standards set by another group. Besides their youth initiatives, the League also offers programs assisting with finance, credit card debt, home ownership, and employment. By providing opportunities centered around supporting and educating the black community in Tacoma, the League counters the debilitating stereotypes and systems holding African Americans back from living in social, economic, and cultural equality with the rest of America.