Collection of approximately 800 digitized photographs and other items collected by Walter L. Gordon, Jr. and given to William C. Beverly, Jr., who donated the collection to UCLA. Collection includes photos given to Walter by his former boss, Charlotta Bass, publisher of the California Eagle, as well as other photos he collected. Photos largely depict African American social life and family life in 1940s Los Angeles and feature celebrities, athletes, politicians, lawyers, and other notable people of the era.
The Los Angeles branch of the National Urban League stems from a 1921 organization founded by Katherine Barr and others who attended Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The league gathered information about racial discrimination against African Americans and other minorities in jobs, health services, and housing; helped develop fair employment programs during World War II, and was active in the formation of the City Human Relations Commission.