<P> African Americans were excluded from existing labor unions, such as when white workers formed the National Labor Union (NLU). William Sylvis, president of the NLU, made a speech in which he agreed that there should be "no distinction of race or nationality" within the ranks of his organization . In 1869 several black delegates were invited to the annual meeting of the NLU, among them Isaac Myers, a prominent organizer of African - American laborers . At the convention, he spoke eloquently for solidarity, saying that white and black workers ought to organize together for higher wages and a comfortable standard of living . However, the white unions refused to allow African Americans to join their ranks . In response to this, Myers met with other African - American laborers to form a national labor organization of their own, and in 1869 the Colored National Labor Union was formed with Myers as its first president . </P> <P> The CNLU was established to help improve the harsh conditions facing black workers . Among the goals of the CNLU, which represented African - American laborers in 21 states, were the issuance of farmland to poor Southern African Americans, government aid for education, and new nondiscriminatory legislation that would help struggling black workers . </P> <P> Following underrepresentaton within the predominately white National Labor Union, the National Colored Labor Convention met in 1869 . This convention resulted in the formation of the Colored National Labor Union in the same year . The "Colored" National Labor Union was a post-civil war organization founded in December 1869 by an assembly of 214 African American mechanics, engineers, artisans, tradesmen and trades - women, and their supporters in Washington D.C. This organization was created in pursuit of equal representation for African Americans in the workforce . The labor union was organized by Isaac Myers, and elected its first president; civil rights activist Frederick Douglass was selected the president of the CNLU in 1872 . Douglass' newspaper, The New Era was chosen as the official organ of this National Labor Union . </P> <P> Previously in 1866, a National Labor Union (NLU) met and was organized in Baltimore, with Isaac Myers in attendance . One of the coordinators of the NLU, A.C. Cameron, while speaking at a national convention focused on the issue of "colored" or Negro labor and declared "...interests of the labor cause demand that all workingmen be included within the ranks without regard to race or nationality ..." However, despite this statement, the membership of this organization's exclusion of issues and interests of the African American workforce was cause to arrange a separate union . This new organization was perfected in 1869 . According to its constitution, the official name for the organization was, The National Labor Union . The word "colored" was added to the previous name apparently by the public media of the time, thus labeling it the "Colored National Labor Union ." </P>

The first african-american union in the us was