Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself or any body for that matter what the YMCA letters stood for? Or wondered what the red triangle in the middle of the letter Y symbolized? Many may never realize the true purpose and influence that the YMCA has had on our culture and society. The Y was the starting point for many of our beliefs, religions, values, and sports.

After the Industrial Revolution, the growth of new jobs in the railroad industry and the centralization of commerce brought many young men to London to fill these jobs. These men worked mostly 10 to 12 hour days and often times 6 days a week. These men were in need of relief from all the crime and dismay upon the streets of London. This liberation came to them from a man name George Williams. He, along with others organized the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on June 6, 1844. The YMCA provided Bible studies and prayer for these men. The purpose and mission statement was “The Improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and physical condition of young men.”

By 1851 twenty-four Y’s were in Great Britain with a membership totaling 2,700. That same year North America formed the first two YMCA’s, one in Montreal on November 25th and one in Boston on December 29th. The Y became so popular that by 1853 the 1st African American Y was founded in Washington, DC by a freed slave name Anthony Bowen. In Paris, 1854, the 1st International Convention of YMCA’s meet and at that time there were 397 different Y’s in 7 different nations with a total of 30,369 members.

The YMCA was started by Evangelicals, but crossed over the lines that separated all different churches and social classes in England, which lead to include all men, women, and children of all races, religions, and nationalities. Before the death of George Williams in 1905, Queen Victoria knighted him as Sir George in 1894. A large stained glass with a red triangle on it in Westminster Abbey was dedicated to symbolize his work to the YMCA’s.

In the early days, YMCA’s were run almost entirely by volunteers, but as the approach of the 19th century, bigger buildings called for more full time associates. Along with that came gyms, swimming pools, auditoriums, and bowling alleys. The Ys took up boys work and organized summer camps. In camp, boys learned many exercise drills, routines, and aerobics. In fact, the term “bodybuilding” was used in 1881 by a staff member of the Boston YMCA. The Y also organized college students for social action by literally inventing the sport of basketball, volleyball, racquetball, softball, and even football. The first professional football team was created at the YMCA in 1895 in Latrobe, Pa. It was at the International YMCA Training school, where James Naismith invented the game of basketball. Not only was basketball invented there, but the game’s first professional team came from a Y.

The entire YMCA movement had been heavily involved in character development from the beginning. Taken from a quote that was stated by George Williams, after responding to a young man who said that he had lost his belief in Jesus, “First I would see if the young man had dinner”, the Y examined the issues and emerged with four core values: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. Afterwards, the Y began to incorporate these values in all programs.

Although not well documented, it is believed that the first female member of a YMCA joined in Brooklyn, NY, in the late 1850s, based on a statement by one observer in 1869 that Brooklyn had had women as members for half of its existence. The Brooklyn YMCA was founded in 1853. There were several female members, at least unofficially, by the 1860s. Ellen Brown, who was not only the first female employee of a YMCA, but also the first boy’s work secretary in the movement, was hired in 1886. By 1946, women accounted for 12 percent of the membership. Almost immediately after the founding of the YMCA in the United States in 1851, women taught classes, raised funds and functioned as a ladies aid society would in a church. These committees of women were largely informal, and official Ladies Auxiliaries were not formed until the 1880s.

Father’s Day in its present form was created at a YMCA staff meeting in Spokane, Washington in 1909 by Louise Smart Dodd. The Y and the Spokane Minister’s Alliance swiftly endorsed the idea and helped it spread, holding the first Father’s Day celebration on June 10, 1910. President Wilson officially recognized Father’s Day in 1916, President Coolidge recommended it in 1924, and in 1971 President Nixon and Congress issued proclamations and endorsements of Father’s Day as a national tradition

In the African American communities, YMCAs have a long and varied history. The first Y for blacks was founded by a freed slave, in Washington, D.C. in 1858. In 1896 there were 60 active black Ys, 41 of which were student Ys at colleges. The first black student YMCA was formed in 1869 at Howard University, Washington, D.C. By 1924, there were 160 black Ys with 28,000 members.

YMCAs, being integral parts of the black community, played important roles in the struggle for civil rights. Twenty-five black YMCAs were built in 23 cities as a result of a challenge grant program announced by Julius Rosenwald in 1910. Rosenwald promised $25,000 toward the construction of YMCAs in black communities if the community raised $75,000 over a five-year period. Adjusting for inflation, Rosenwald’s grants would total about $10 million today.

During the 90’s, a tremendous change occurred in the field of youth development. About half a million children received care at a YMCA each year. In 96, childcare became the movement’s second largest source of revenue, after membership dues. Though child care was not started at the Y, but it urged other organizations to meet the needs of a changed and changing society. Today, the YMCA is the largest non-profit provider for child care and is larger than any for-profit chain in the country.

One of the main reasons to examine the contributions of the YMCA in the past is to inspire today’s youth, YMCA staff, and volunteers to serve their communities with the same concern, determination, courage, and strength. The YMCA is truly a movement in history that helped shape our society and we all should acknowledge their service to our communities.

– Erica McRae