REMEMBERING THE UNSUNG BLACK SOCIAL WORK PIONEERLESTER BLACKWELL GRANGER

By Bro. Deron “Pops” Snyder

The accomplishments of people of color are often overlooked in American history. That is also true of social workers of color.

Lester Blackwell Granger is one such historical figure, a social worker few people know about who should enjoy wider acclaim. As Black History Month closes, it is appropriate we take a closer look at this NASW Social Work Pioneer.

Born in 1896, Granger lived during and time of tremendous upheaval and change in our nation.

He served as executive director of the National Urban League (NUL) from 1941 to 1961, presiding through World War II and the Korean War, and the birth pains of the modern civil rights movement.

Granger served in the military during World War I and experienced first-hand the racism inflicted on Black soldiers who fought for freedom abroad, only to return to home to second-class citizenship and even violence in the form of lynching.

While at the helm of NUL, Granger joined the leader of the NAACP, the Black press and others to push for desegregation of the U.S. military. The campaign lasted a decade but culminated in President Harry Truman signing Executive Order 9981 in 1948 to desegregate the military. Granger also drew up the Navy’s postWorld War II integration plan and helped solve problems related to desegregation in the Navy.

For his efforts, Granger was awarded the President’s Medal of Merit by President Truman was later lauded by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Granger was leading figure in emerging social work profession

Granger attended Dartmouth College and one of his first jobs as a social worker was in New Jersey, assisting youth at a vocational school. “In fact, Granger became a leading figure in the new social work profession,” Herbert G. Ruffin II writes for blackpast.org.

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation lists Granger as one of the NASW Social Work Pioneers® because he “introduced civil rights to the social work agenda as a national and international issue.

From his Pioneers bio: “He focused attention and advocacy energy on the goal of equal opportunity and justice for all people of color, even while focusing on the condition of Black people in the United States. He is credited with leading the development of unions among black workers, as well as integrating white unions.”

Granger joined NUL in 1934 and led the organization’s Workers’ Bureau, which sought to educate and mobilize Blacks as they migrated from the rural South and sought industrial work in urban centers.

The NUL’s focus on jobs and self-help was often contrasted against the goals of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which concentrated more on ending discriminatory laws and stopping lynching of Black people.

Hugh B. Price, NUL president from 1994 to 2003, said Granger realized each aim was vital. “If you’re to function on a daily basis, you need food, clothing and shelter,” Price said. “And you want the right to vote and the right to not be lynched. All of that.”

“The Urban League’s cause was rooted in social work and helping Blacks during the Great Migration,” Price continued. “Helping them get situated when they came to town and deal with what was in their faces on a daily basis. And (scholar W.E.B.) DuBois and the NAACP were perfectly appropriate in fighting for people’s rights, etc. and etc. What you began to see with Granger – and subsequently all of the successors – was the league deal with both realities.”

Granger used role in “Black Cabinet” to push for military desegregation

Price said Granger was active with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s so-called “Black Cabinet,” an informal advisory group of Black leaders who lobbied for integration and equal access to New Deal opportunities. Not long after Granger was appointed head of the NUL in 1941, his focus shifted from unions to uniformed services.

The South didn’t have anything on the military in terms of upholding Jim Crow.

More than a million Black men and women served in the armed forces during World War II, and nearly all were assigned to segregated units commanded by white officers. Tensions were simmering when James V. Forrestal became Secretary of the Navy and shortly thereafter, in March 1945, appointed Granger as a special representative to study race relations within the branch. “In his first six months, Granger travelled 50,000 miles and visited 67 naval installations home and abroad,” Charles Wollenberg writes in the California