PITTSBURGH – The new president of the National Urban League said yesterday the number of blacks with bachelor's degrees is at an all-time high, but warned success in the classroom is marred by rising incarceration rates and covert racism.

Census figures show that in 2002, 17 percent of blacks 25 and older had a bachelor's degree, a record high. But Urban League President Marc Morial said achievement is overshadowed by the number of blacks in jail.

There are 875,000 blacks incarcerated in the United States, Morial said, or one out of every seven black males 25 to 29.

"We must ask why does the rate of incarceration of our black men continue to exceed the rate of college admission?" Morial said. "Why in the year 2000 were there at least 13 states where there were more African-Americans in prisons than in college? We must not be afraid to say to ourselves that we have much work to do."

Morial, chosen two months ago to lead the venerable civil rights group, made his first national address during the organization's annual conference yesterday.

While discussing racism, he cited a passage from an essay by Robert Hill included in the Urban League's annual report. The essay said racism remains, but has taken a new form.

"There has been a strong shift from Jim Crow – the overt manifestation of racial hatred by individuals in white society – to James Crow, Esquire – the maintenance of racial inequality through covert processes of structure and institutions."

Much of the talk among those attending the second day of the convention concerned the differences between Hugh Price, who stepped down as president in May, and Morial.

Price was considered a tireless and cerebral organizer. Morial, a brash and sometimes controversial former mayor of New Orleans, has vowed to raise the group's profile.

President Bush is expected to address the conference today, although he has shunned sit-downs with established black groups. Seven of the nine Democratic candidates for president also said they would participate in the conference today.