Young Men's Christian Association of Alexandria, Virginia ledger

The Young Men's Christian Association of Alexandria, Virginia was founded in 1853. The Y.M.C.A. was founded in London in 1844, the first American Chapter was founded in Boston, in 1851. In 1844, industrialized London was a place of great turmoil and despair. For the young men who migrated to the city from rural areas to find jobs, London offered a bleak landscape of tenement housing and dangerous influences.

Twenty-two-year-old George Williams, a farmer-turned-department store worker, was troubled by what he saw. He joined 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), a refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the streets.

Although an association of young men meeting around a common purpose was nothing new, the Y offered something unique for its time. The organization’s drive to meet social need in the community was compelling, and its openness to members crossed the rigid lines separating English social classes.

Years later, retired Boston sea captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan, working as a marine missionary, noticed a similar need to create a safe “home away from home” for sailors and merchants. Inspired by the stories of the Y in England, he led the formation of the first U.S. YMCA at the Old South Church in Boston on December 29, 1851.

The first YMCA established to serve African American people came into being in 1853, eight years before the American Civil War and ten years before the institution of slavery was officially ended in the United States. The principal founder was a formerly enslaved man, Anthony Bowen, who, with a group of friends, organized the "YMCA for Colored Men and Boys" in Washington, D.C.. It opened just nine years after the world's first YMCA was founded in London, England and less than two years after the first North American YMCAs were organized in Boston and Montreal.

The American YMCA movement approved a revision to the National Council Constitution to support a variety of antidiscrimination laws, update the list of protected classes, and affirm the Y's commitment to diversity and inclusion. The appointment of Kevin Washington as CEO in 2015 marked the the first time that the YMCA of the USA was led by an African American (or a person of color).

Sources: Wikipedia https://libguides.umn.edu/c.php?g=1088894&p=7940991