 CBTU was started in September 1972 when more than 1,200 black union officials and rank and file members from 37 national unions met on September 23–24 at the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois to discuss the role of black trade unionists in the labor movement.At the time, it was the largest single gathering of black unionists in the history of the American labor movement.Five black labor leaders (William Lucy, Nelson Edwards, William Simons, Charles Hayes and Cleveland Robinson) called the new organization the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.