A federal Negro Industrial Commission was proposed to investigate the living situation of African Americans during the 1920s and make recommendations for improving economic conditions and bettering relations between the races. (INTRO NOTE African Americans) The effort to establish the commission was tied to the effort to pass a federal anti-lynching law.
The Coolidge Papers case file National Negro Industrial Commission and the National Urban League Papers file Negro Industrial Commission trace a part of the effort to establish the commission.
Giles B. Jackson, a Richmond lawyer, was chairman of the Legislative Committee of the Negro Industrial Commission Bill and drafter of the proposed legislation. Giles actually drafted two House bills to create a Negro Industrial Commission. The first one, H.R. 2895, was introduced on April 13, 1921. The second, H.R. 3228, was introduced on December 13, 1923. The second version was essentially the same as the first, the major change being the addition of the clause "to formulate a policy for mutual understanding and confidence between the races" to Section 4 on the duties of the commission.
Committee hearings were held in the spring of 1924 and the bill was reported favorably to the full House, but there was no time on the calendar to take it up. The bill was introduced in the Senate in 1924, but never passed.