(FORTUNE Magazine) – In March, Hugh Price, president of the National Urban League, approached FORTUNE with the idea of publishing one or more stories about African Americans in business to coincide with the 87-year-old organization's annual convention, which begins on August 4 in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year's gathering is Economic Power: The Next Civil Rights Frontier. "It's an important time for our country," Price said. "Just as the nation is implementing rollbacks to the efforts designed to create equal opportunities for all Americans, the generation of African Americans who benefited most from those programs is beginning to take its place at the table of economic success." A few weeks later, Price--a descendant of a former slave who fought in the American Revolution--spoke with editor-at-large Roy S. Johnson about the renewed emphasis on economics among blacks, the chances for genuine diversity in the workplace, and how companies are trying to avoid becoming the next Texaco.

FORTUNE: What are the common traits you see among African-American business leaders who grew up in the aftermath of the civil rights movement?

HUGH PRICE: I don't want to call them survivors. They are more than survivors. They are people who are extraordinarily talented and have learned the art of the deal. They've attended some of the nation's most prestigious schools, learned how to navigate the highest reaches of the systems, and they have thrived.

FORTUNE: But many corporate executives still say they are all fighting over the same small cadre of talented people of color.

HUGH PRICE: I think corporations simply haven't expended enough energy to recruit and groom senior managerial talent. They haven't been inventive enough. Not that they don't want to be. I just came from lunch today with someone from the FORTUNE 500 who is very worried about the complexion of their senior management ranks. The corporations, I think, know the demographics of the country and realize that over the next 20 or 30 years, they will increasingly have to look to a talent pool largely comprising minorities and women for their senior and middle managers. I tell them that if they took a hard look at the resumes of their current managers, they would see that their levels of education and the caliber of schools they attended aren't quite up to those of a lot of today's African-American graduates. Yet these kids are having difficulties getting comfortable in your culture. Slowly, companies are becoming sensitive to this.

FORTUNE: Given the natural cycle of opinions, are you working against a closing window of opportunity? How long will CEOs be truly interested in the inclusion of blacks and Hispanics among senior management?

HUGH PRICE: I don't have an easy answer to that except that there is opportunity and there is action--right now. We have faith that (1) American companies are so bottom-line oriented that they will eventually recruit talent where they can find it; (2) the evolving demographic profile of the country will cause consumer-oriented companies to become even more sensitive to minority concerns; and (3) the competition for market share is so ferocious that if you're not out there recruiting the best talent, then someone who is will eat your lunch. In time, companies won't ask a lot of questions about gender and complexion. Shareholders don't ask any questions about that.

FORTUNE: Many of today's black-owned businesses are finding success by partnering with large corporations. How important is this trend to the next generation of African-American entrepreneurs?

HUGH PRICE: It's huge. Those trying to break into mainstream markets have to be as canny, cunning, and creative as possible to ensure their success, even though they're bringing assets to the table that other parties might not have. Let's take the case of Magic Johnson's partnership with Sony. I suspect he couldn't have moved ahead on his own, nor could Sony have effectively gone into [urban] communities by itself. Yet together, they're discovering extraordinarily profitable possibilities.

FORTUNE: Some blacks have been criticized for striking these types of deals, often from other blacks who allege that these partnerships are merely "fronts" for white companies looking to take a slice of the business generated by or meant for African Americans.

HUGH PRICE: I hope we've gotten past that kind of immature perspective. It's sort of like saying Bill Cosby isn't an African-American comedian because he's got a crossover audience. Well, because he's got a crossover audience, Cosby was able to give, what, $50 million to Spelman College. And as a result of that [donation], Spelman is one of the great black institutions. The real question isn't how you aggregate wealth, but what you do with the wealth that's generated.

Those African Americans who are business-oriented who have gone into major corporations will hopefully, over time, discover that there's a product or a service they can provide more efficiently than the market can provide itself. So they should do what is traditionally done: Get an idea, learn the ropes, and build your own thing. The larger challenge is going to be keeping up the pressure on those who control access to mainstream markets to keep them open.

FORTUNE: Let's talk about the recent cutbacks in affirmative-action programs. Can we assume that those programs are dead?

HUGH PRICE: No, but I think they have to assume that the legal foundation for the old tool is probably dead. It's becoming harder to make the case for a two-tier bidding system. In this post-set-aside environment, the question then becomes, Can our firms bid on an competitive basis against larger firms, and can we use tools such as inner-city hiring priorities to help tilt [some decisions our way]?

It will be interesting to see how the mayors of our cities can produce the kinds of results Mayor Maynard Jackson produced in Atlanta when they don't have the same tools. Can you build in any kind of consideration to make sure that it isn't business as usual? Some of this is going to turn on the kinds of conversations that occurred out at the Cleveland Economic Development Summit, where the Marriott hotel chain sat down with a number of us and said, "We really do want more minority-owned and minority-partnered hotels in this chain." But [African Americans] need to gear up for this kind of opportunity. If we let the surge in economic activity in cities pass us by, then a pox on our house, because it's right there, right now.

FORTUNE: What was your reaction when the Texaco tapes were released, revealing intimate discussions about racially discriminatory tactics among some of the company's executives?

HUGH PRICE: You mean, corporate America's Fuhrman tapes? There wasn't a celebration, but there was a sigh of relief. We said, "Aha, I told you so!" It gave us a hammer. No question about it.

FORTUNE: What has been the ripple effect of Texaco's $115 million settlement of the suit?

HUGH PRICE: The way CEO Peter Bijur responded to the allegations was beyond most expectations. They didn't deny the problem. He didn't muddle through a solution. Instead, he took a great leap forward and looked at the company's employment practices, and created a plan that provides business opportunities for black-owned firms. The proof will be in the delivery, but in the meantime other companies have sat up and taken notice. Other similar cases are percolating throughout corporate America.

FORTUNE: This area is a little off track, but talk about how the tremendous earning power of black athletes and entertainers has perhaps distorted the definition of "success." Should this type of achievement be downplayed?

HUGH PRICE: Well, it creates an extraordinary opportunity, and it creates a crushing obligation. African Americans in these industries are playing a huge role in defining popular culture, which is then captured by industry and exploited to its benefit--and profit. Leveraging that power becomes the challenge. What can we do to own the goods and services that are the byproducts of this popular culture we are helping to define? I am thrilled that athletes and entertainers are doing quite well. It creates the basis for wealth that enables an Isaiah Thomas to try to purchase the Toronto Raptors. The question is, What do you do with what you aggregate? Do you build additional institutions, job opportunities? Do you also have a charitable impulse that loops back to the community? But you can't even begin to have those conversations until you aggregate some wealth. [Yes, our young people do need to learn more] about folks in business, folks in teaching, folks who work with public agencies. They need to understand what the possibilities are for self-sufficiency and nobility in everyday life.

FORTUNE: Are you personally more buoyed by the progress you've seen or fatigued by the need for continued efforts?

HUGH PRICE: I become exasperated, but I try not to allow myself to become frustrated, because frustration freezes you in your tracks. We have no choice but to press forward and prepare to send even more waves of extraordinarily talented people at the problem.