Dr. George Edmund Haynes
- Ninfa O. Barnard
- May 7
- 3 min read
Pine Bluff native, Dr. George Edmund Haynes was a pioneering sociologist, social worker, educator, policy expert, and co-founder and first Executive Director of the National Urban League.
Image Credit: www.BlackPast.org
George Edmund Haynes was born on May 11, 1880, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Louis, a laborer, and Mattie Haynes, a domestic worker. He graduated from the Richard Allen Institute, one of the first Presbyterian schools for African Americans founded in Arkansas.
In 1903, he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fisk University. In 1904, he earned a master’s degree in sociology from Yale University. He later continued his studies at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the New York School of Philanthropy. During this time, he earned money to support his mother and sister by working at the Colored Men's Department of the International Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
In the summer of 1906 and 1907, while working at the University of Chicago, Haynes became interested in the social issues that affected African-American migrants from the South In 1912, he received a PhD in sociology, becoming the first African American scholar to earn a PhD at the prestigious Columbia University. His graduate dissertation was entitled “The Negro at Work in New York: A Study in Economic Progress.”
In 1910, Haynes and white philanthropist Ruth Standish Baldwin co-founded the Committee for Improving Industrial Conditions of Negroes in New York. Subsequently, Haynes and Baldwin helped merge the committee with local welfare agencies to form the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes (NCLUCAN), now known as the National Urban League. He became the organization’s first executive director, serving from 1911 to 1918. He was involved with the American Association for the Protection of Colored Women. Haynes also advocated for schools to produce more African American social workers equipped to examine and address conditions related to families, crime, health, housing, and employment in African American communities.
Haynes assisted in coordinating a collaboration between the New York School of Philanthropy and the NCLUCAN, which led to the creation of the nation’s first social work training program for African American graduate students, at Fisk University. From 1910 to 1918, he directed the program, training students in social science and social work. Around 1914, Haynes developed the U.S. college course about African American history.
As his research expanded, Haynes' reputation as an expert in racial dynamics grew. By 1918, Haynes became the first African American to serve in a presidential sub-cabinet-level position, serving as Director of Negro Economics of the U.S. Department of Labor, after President Woodrow Wilson noticed his work. President Wilson tapped Haynes to advise on “all matters affecting Negroes.” As a result, Haynes developed various methods of improving the labor conditions for African American workers. He also engaged African American leaders in discussions to determine the most effective ways the federal government could improve labor conditions.
Unfortunately, in 1919 race riots broke out across the country, as the racial demographics and social attitudes changed after World War I. As a result of the 1919 race riots and moderately increasing racial reforms, Southern Democrats created government initiatives that defunded Haynes’ agency and halted African American progress in the federal government sector. Sadly, Haynes' term as Director of Negro Economics for the U.S. Department of Labor ended in 1921.
During his tenure, he was involved in racial conflict issues concerning African Americans in employment, housing, and recreation. In his position as Director of Negro Economics, he continued his research about the exclusion of African American workers in certain trades, child labor, and interracial conditions in the workplace. One of his important scholarly works during this time was The Negro at Work During the World War and During Reconstruction. As a result of this work, he was appointed to the President’s Unemployment Conference in 1921.
In 1930 he surveyed the work of the YMCA’s effectiveness and interracial cooperation in South Africa. In 1947, he conducted a similar study of the organization’s activities in other African nations. As a result, he was chosen to be the World Committee of YMCAs Consultant in Africa.
Haynes retired in the 1940s but continued his pursuit of interracial understanding and education. He served on the board of trustees of the State University of New York. From 1951 to 1960, he taught history and sociology classes at New York’s City College. He wrote two books: Africa, Continent of the Future (1951) and Trend of the Races(1922), which demonstrate his belief in the union of all races.
Haynes was married twice, first to Elizabeth Ross and later to Olyve Love Jeter. His only child was George Edmund Jr.
Haynes died on January 8, 1960.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard