This year's report, entitled The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male, focuses upon the plight of black men in the United States and includes essays by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Marian Wright Edelman, among others, as well as a foreword by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"Empowering black males to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today," NUL President Marc H. Morial said.

Through its Equality Index, the study provides a statistical measurement of equality gaps that exist between African Americans and mainstream America in five areas - education, economics, health, civic engagement and social justice.

In addition to presenting the findings, NUL President Morial will offer public policy recommendations to remedy the disparities highlighted in the report. His speech will be followed by a panel discussion of the report’s authors moderated by XM Radio personality and activist Joe Madison.

The National Urban League has been releasing its annual State of Black America since 1976 but 2007 marks the first year in which the report will be distributed nationally as a trade book to more than 2,500 bookstores, retail and online outlets through Beckham Publications Group, a minority-owned publisher based in Silver Spring, MD.

For more information, contact Ricky Clemons at 212-558-5371.