In the 1960s, African Americans made great strides. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act brought about greater political and civic participation, while affirmative action opened the hallowed halls of academia and the offices of corporate America.

Marc Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League (www.nul.org). The Friday conference at CMU's McConomy Auditorium runs from 4:30 to 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For more information, call 1-888-685-4338 (NUL-4EET).

But 40 years later, work remains to be done -- especially on the economic front. In its 2006 State of Black of America equality index, the National Urban League found that the economic status of African Americans is 56 percent of that of whites when comparing income, unemployment, homeownership, business ownership, median net worth and poverty rates.

Blacks ranked better on the health, education, social justice and civic engagement fronts -- at least 74 percent of whites. They even surpassed whites in terms of civic engagement -- 1.04 percent of whites. And from 1967 to 2005, the median income for black households rose faster than that of white households -- 44 percent to 21 percent.

Still, blacks continued to lag behind whites by roughly $20,000 a year -- $30,858 vs. $50,784 -- which means blacks made only 60 percent of what whites did in 2005, compared to only 51 percent in 1967. Homeownership by blacks hit an all-time high in 2004 at 49.1 percent, but remained well behind the 76 percent for whites. Net worth is a mere one-tenth of that of whites.

So while continuing the struggle to participate in our nation's political and social institutions, our generation also needs to fight for financial independence and economic prosperity. Economic empowerment is the civil rights movement of the 21st century, and it embraces four major goals: better jobs, increased homeownership, greater entrepreneurship and enhanced financial literacy.

No less important than our predecessors' struggles, this has more to do with our own individual efforts, which is our only hope if we want to close the remaining gaps between minorities and whites in the United States.

That is why the National Urban League has launched a multi-city Economic Empowerment Tour that kicks off in Pittsburgh on Friday. In addition to heightening awareness of the economic disparities across our country, we will provide practical tools to enable participants to seize control of their financial futures.

Why Pittsburgh?

According to the University of Pittsburgh's 2004 Black-White Benchmarks study, the city stands as one of the most disadvantaged for African Americans of 70 cities nationwide in terms of home ownership, median household income and poverty rates.

The city ranked 50th among the 70 U.S. cities for black homeownership: In 2000, only 34.5 percent of the city's African Americans owned their own home; compared to 59.9 percent of whites. Household median income for African Americans stood at $20,075 a year in 2000, compared to $32,692 for white households, ranking Pittsburgh 66th. And Pittsburgh had the 7th highest rate of poverty in 2000: 34.1 percent of blacks were poor, compared to 14.3 percent of whites.

Entitled "You, Your Money, Your Future," this one-day event at Carnegie Mellon University is free and open to the public. It will focus on improving home ownership and will feature representatives from local financial institutions, insurers and government agencies guiding participants through the process of securing mortgage loans, keeping loans in good standing and other essentials of owning a home. A town hall meeting featuring John Hope Bryant, CEO of Operation Hope, and Urban League of Pittsburgh President Esther L. Bush, among others, will follow to discuss economic empowerment and its importance for the African-American community and society in general.

With the midterm elections just two weeks away and the 2008 presidential and congressional elections just two years away, this tour also is intended to put the issue of economic inequality on the national agenda. We've heard more than enough about national security but too little about personal financial security.

Economic empowerment is not exclusively needed in the African-American community. Americans from all walks of life, color, religion and economic background are hurting from the ever-widening gap between haves and have-nots. According to a 2006 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the United States ranked behind only Mexico among 28 relatively developed countries in the size of its gap between rich and poor.

No one wins in a nation with such great disparities. They threaten our competitiveness and standard of living, and they represent a reversal of the gains made by the sacrifice of previous generations. It is in everyone's interest to empower themselves and their neighbors, and to keep this nation a global powerhouse.