Andrew Young

Andrew Jackson Young Jr. was born on March 12, 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Andrew Jackson Young, was a dentist, and his mother, Daisy Young, was a schoolteacher. He attended Dillard University for one year before graduating from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1951. Deciding against a career in dentistry, he pursued ministry, earning a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Hartford Seminary in 1955. After ordination, he served as a pastor in Marion, Alabama, and in Thomasville and Beachton, Georgia. In 1957, Young moved to New York City to work with the Youth Division of the National Council of Churches as associate director, a role he held until 1961.

In 1961, Young returned to the South, moving to Atlanta, Georgia, to join the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and focus on voter registration initiatives. His involvement deepened, and in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. appointed him executive director of the SCLC. In this capacity, Young played a strategic role in major Civil Rights Campaigns, including those in Birmingham (1963), St. Augustine (1964), Selma (1965), and Atlanta (1966). His efforts contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Having observed the movement’s need to transition into formal politics, Young successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, becoming the first African American elected to Congress from Georgia since the Reconstruction era. He served three terms, focusing on issues like foreign policy, civil rights, and urban development.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, making him the first African American to hold this position. During his ambassadorship, he played a role in advancing a settlement in Rhodesia, leading to the formation of Zimbabwe. He resigned in 1979 following a controversial meeting with a Palestine Liberation Organization representative. After his diplomatic service, Young was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1981, serving two terms until 1990. As mayor, he focused on attracting private investment, expanding opportunities for minority and female-owned businesses, and enhancing educational programs. He was also instrumental in bringing the 1996 Summer Olympic Games to Atlanta as co-chair of the bid committee. Following his mayoral career, he founded the Andrew Young Foundation in 2003, dedicated to promoting education, health, leadership, and human rights globally.