Search Data on African American YMCAs
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| West Federal Street Branch, a black YMCA in Youngstown, Ohio. Kautz Family YMCA Archives Photo Collection |
Until 1945, the YMCA was a largely segregated movement in the United States. African Americans established and maintained separate Associations for the black community.
The African American YMCA database lists the state, city, (and if it was a student YMCA, the name of the college/university) for black YMCAs as reported in the YMCA Yearbooks from the years 1878 to 1945. For some years, data includes the name of the president and/or secretary, the number of members, and the date the association was organized.
(Searches are not case sensitive)
Help Searching the African American YMCA Database
Entering more than one keyword
If you enter more than one keyword, the results will include YMCA listings that have both keywords present within the selected field. It is not possible to search for keywords in two fields in the same search. For example, you cannot search for "atlanta" in both the city and the college/university fields in the same search.Searching for a phrase
To search for a phrase, use quotation marks, e.g. "hampton institute" to find a listing for the YMCA at Hampton Institute but not at Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institute.Data in database is for the years 1878-1945 only.
Data in the African American YMCA Database was compiled from the yearbooks published annually by the YMCA. From the years 1878 to 1945, these yearbooks included statistics on black YMCAs, which until 1945 were run separately.Data for student YMCAs is for the years 1878-1937 only
Segregation of student YMCAs was ended in 1933, so separate listings of black student YMCAs in the yearbooks dropped off significantly after that date and disappear altogether by 1938. After 1937, any student YMCAs at historically or predominantly black colleges would be included in the main listing of student YMCAs in the yearbooks.Names of colleges/universities are not always consistent
Information in the database reflects the data that was published in the yearbooks. In some cases, the yearbooks were not consistent from year to year in the way they gave the name of the college or university. For example, in 1901 there is a listing for Kitrell Institute. In 1902 the listing is for Kittrell College. In some cases this may reflect an actual name change for the institution.Abbreviations
Some abbreviations in the names of colleges and universities have been eliminated, for the most part. E.g. What was listed in the yearbook as "St. Paul N & I School" is listed in the database as "St Paul Normal & Industrial School." The main exception to this rule is "A & M" which has been left as is, and is not listed as "Agricultural & Mechanical."Omit punctuation when searching for abbreviations such as "St" (saint).
Number of members, date of organization, president, and secretary are not always listed
Data was taken directly from the yearbooks. Information such as the date of organization, the number of members, etc., was not always published.Searching by state
Search for listings by state using their two-letter abbreviations. E.g., to search for black YMCAs in Kansas, enter the keyword "ks" and select "Two-Letter State Abbrev." from the pulldown menu."Not Reporting" in the Notes Field
The note "not reporting" in the listing for a YMCA means that the YMCA did not actually report to the national office that year, but the national office assumed the YMCA was still in existence and included it in the yearbook that year.