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The period of the NRA, nevertheless, proved to be a time of increasing
agitation around Black workers by some forces in the Black freedom movement.
The Afro, which had always maintained a focus on Black workers and which
programmatically advocated trade unionism, frequently covered and commented on
issues of discrimination relative to the New Deal, employers, and unions. For
example, the Afro editorialized against the federal government violation of the
spirit of its own NRA codes by its discriminatory firings of Black customs workers;
exposed the tiring Black workers and their replacement with whites by Baltimore's
Swindell Company, in violation of the NRA code under which it operated; called
for an NRA code to cover domestic workers, the category into which most Black
working women fell (a call heard with increasing frequency from Black leaders in
Baltimore); exposed the racist practices of local and national AFL unions against
Blacks and on one occasion raised the possibility of an organized drive by African
Americans nationally against the AFL; reported on predominantly Black unions
like ILA local 858 and on integrated unions like the Marine Worker* Industrial
Union; and closely followed the struggle within the national AFL over the role of
Black workers.

Besides the Afro's coverage, another intervention by Black freedom
movement leadership into the trade-union arena was that of the Baltimore Urban
League (BUL) under the initiative of its executive secretary Edward Lewis. In mid-
August 1933, during the ACWs NRA code struggle, the BUL licld a meeting with
the cooperation of the ACW for Black clothing workers entitled "Should Our
Workers Join the Unions Now?" The answer given by Edward Lewis, the ACW
personnel, and the other Black leaders present was yes. By 1934, involvement in
the labor movement was officially a BUL top priority. Lewis, himself a former
worker, went further: he later indicated that he was involved in directly organizing
Black workers without the knowledge of some on the BUL executive board. By late