Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

Long-Distance Runners of the Civil Rights Movement \\ 143
established in 1932 with capital from the estate of Michael Friedsam, a philanthropist,
art collector, and civic leader who had succeeded Benjamin Altman as
president of B. Altman & Company as well as the Altman Foundation. The
Fnedsam Foundation made gifts to the Urban League of $10,000 in 1935, 1 936,
and 1937 — identical to those of the Spelman Fund, and the largest gifts received
by the organization. (In the same period, the Carnegie Corporation was making
contributions of $5,000 a year.) From 1935 through 1939, the Friedsam and New
York Foundations together accounted for more than 20 percent of the Urban
League's total income. 56
The connections between Jewish leadership and financial support and the
well-being of the National Urban League also played themselves out on the local
level as individual Jews became mainstays of efforts to establish and sustain Urban
League affiliates. In Newark, when William M. Ashby, executive secretary of the
fledgling Negro Welfare League of New Jersey, set out to establish a home for the
young Black women who were flocking to the city in the great migration from
the rural South, he turned to Caroline Bamberger Fuld, the sister of the department
store executive Louis Bamberger, who made a personal contribution and
helped him raise the balance of the money. At the same time, the League counted
on "quite a substantial donation" from her husband, Felix Fuld (a partner with
Bamberger in the Newark department store, L. Bamberger & Company), to support
its annual operations. 57
In Pittsburgh, the May family, German Jews who had built up a substantial
drug store empire in the early part of the century, played the critical role. Walter
May, one of the Pittsburgh Urban League's founders, served both as the agency's
first president (1918—20) and as its "principal 'angel.'" His younger brother,
Edwin, served the League for fifteen years, both as president (1924—26) and as
"perennial treasurer." 58
In Baltimore, Joseph N. Ulman, the judge on the Supreme Bench of
Baltimore who was president of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, served as the
Urban League's second president (1928-36). In White Plains, Max Meyer, a Jewturned-Ethical
Culturist, held the Urban League presidency from the agency's
founding in 1919 until his death in 1952. His successor, Richard Maass, who
would subsequently serve as president of the American Jewish Committee, later
reflected on the mutually beneficial relationship between the Urban League and
the White Plains Jewish community: "There were a large number of Jews on the
board of the Urban League," he said. "Our problem was more to get WASPs,
white non-Jews on." 59
established in 1932 with capital from the estate of Michael Friedsam, a philanthropist,
art collector, and civic leader who had succeeded Benjamin Altman as
president of B. Altman & Company as well as the Altman Foundation. The
Fnedsam Foundation made gifts to the Urban League of $10,000 in 1935, 1 936,
and 1937—identical to those of the Spelman Fund, and the largest gifts received
by the organization. (In the same period, the Carnegie Corporation was making
contributions of $5,000 a year.) From 1935 through 1939, the Friedsam and New
York Foundations together accounted for more than 20 percent of the Urban
League's total income. 56
The connections between Jewish leadership and financial support and the
well-being of the National Urban League also played themselves out on the local
level as individual Jews became mainstays of efforts to establish and sustain Urban
League affiliates. In Newark, when William M. Ashby, executive secretary of the
fledgling Negro Welfare League of New Jersey, set out to establish a home for the
young Black women who were flocking to the city in the great migration from
the rural South, he turned to Caroline Bamberger Fuld, the sister of the department
store executive Louis Bamberger, who made a personal contribution and
helped him raise the balance of the money. At the same time, the League counted
on "quite a substantial donation" from her husband, Felix Fuld (a partner with
Bamberger in the Newark department store, L. Bamberger & Company), to support
its annual operations. 57
In Pittsburgh, the May family, German Jews who had built up a substantial
drug store empire in the early part of the century, played the critical role. Walter
May, one of the Pittsburgh Urban League's founders, served both as the agency's
first president (1918—20) and as its "principal 'angel.'" His younger brother,
Edwin, served the League for fifteen years, both as president (1924—26) and as
"perennial treasurer." 58
In Baltimore, Joseph N. Ulman, the judge on the Supreme Bench of
Baltimore who was president of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, served as the
Urban League's second president (1928-36). In White Plains, Max Meyer, a Jewturned-Ethical
Culturist, held the Urban League presidency from the agency's
founding in 1919 until his death in 1952. His successor, Richard Maass, who
would subsequently serve as president of the American Jewish Committee, later
reflected on the mutually beneficial relationship between the Urban League and
the White Plains Jewish community: "There were a large number of Jews on the
board of the Urban League," he said. "Our problem was more to get WASPs,
white non-Jews on." 59
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The record of Jewish involvement in the NAACP NAACP and the National Urban League
in in the early years of the twentieth century led many Blacks to characterize Jews
as their particular allies. W. E. B. Du Bois made the case in an an understated fash- fash-