Portal:Louisiana/Selected biography/10

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American civil rights activist, former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, and was the United States' first African-American ambassador to the United Nations. Young is the namesake of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. International Boulevard, near the Centennial Olympic Park, has been re-named Andrew Young International Boulevard, in honor of his efforts to secure the Olympic bid for Atlanta.

Young was appointed to serve as pastor of a church in Marion, Alabama. It was there in Marion that he met Jean Childs, whom later became his wife. Also while in Marion, Young began to study the writings of Mohandas Gandhi. Young became interested in Gandhi's concept of non-violent resistance as a tactic for social change. He encouraged African-Americans to register to vote in Alabama, and sometimes faced death threats while doing so. He became a friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at this time. In 1957, Young moved to New York City to accept a job with the National Council of Churches. However, as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, Young decided that his place was back in the South. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia and again worked on drives to register black voters. In 1960 he joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Young was jailed for his participation in civil rights demonstrations, both in Selma, Alabama and in St. Augustine, Florida. Young played a key role in the events in Birmingham, Alabama serving as a mediator between the white and black communities. In 1964 Young was named executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), becoming, in that capacity, one of Dr. King's principal lieutenants. He was with King in Memphis, Tennessee when King was assassinated in 1968. (read more . . . )