Description
Signed first edition, first printing of Beyond Racism: Building an Open Society by Whitney M. Young Jr.
Octavo, [12], 257pp, [1]. Black cloth, title in white on spine. Blue topstain. Stated “First Edition” on copyright page, no additional printings listed. Solid text block, faint dust remnants along edges, a nearly fine copy. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $6.95 retail price on front flap, light shelf wear, short closed tear to top edge of spine, near fine.
Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: “To Mrs. John French / with sincere appreciation / Whitney M. Young Jr.”
Includes a laid-in typed letter from Young, Jr., thanking her for attendance at the Celanese House and gifting this copy to Mrs. French.
The Celanese Reception on the State of the Urban League took place on Thursday, May 15, 1969. (Columbia University) The Celanese Corporation was a sponsor of multiple efforts by the National Urban League, including the 1971 Street Academy Program. (NYT, Feb. 1971)
Whitney Moore Young, Jr. (1921-1971) was a Civil Rights leader and social worker who fought employment discrimination in America. He became the executive director of the National Urban League in 1961, serving as its president until his death in 1971. Young Jr. pushed for a domestic “Marshal Plan” to combat poverty, fought for major corporations to hire more Black people, and created programs to prepare high school dropouts for college. He is recognized as one of the “Big Six” activists, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins.
