Establishment of Colored Laborers Union

Date: June 13, 1850 • Location: Washington, United States

The American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) was a short-lived labor union established in New York City in 1850. It is notable for being the first union created for African Americans in the United States. Social reformer Frederick Douglass assisted in organizing the group, which held its first meeting at the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on June 13, 1850. Its initial officers included Samuel Ringgold Ward as president, Douglass and Lewis Woodson as vice presidents, and Henry Bibb as secretary. During the first meeting, an executive committee was organized that was composed of several notable social reformers and abolitionists. In addition to union activities, the league was also envisioned to serve as a benefit society for black tradespeople and entrepreneurs, and to this effect, its leaders planned to establish a mutual savings bank and hold an industrial fair. Despite these plans, the union faltered shortly after its creation, and it would take until 1869 that the first successful national labor union for African Americans, the Colored National Labor Union, was formed.