Andrew J. Young | Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/","20200917235427","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1600386867"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic&display=swap" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">  <title>Andrew J. Young | Academy of Achievement</title> <meta name="description" content="Andrew Young was the pastor of a small country church when he faced down the Ku Klux Klan to organize a voter registration drive in South Georgia. He became the leading negotiator for the national Civil Rights Movement, enduring death threats, beatings and jail time to win for African Americans the rights of full citizenship they were promised by the Constitution, rights they had been long denied. Alongside his friend, Martin Luther King, Jr., he marched through the most dramatic episodes of the great struggle: from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the streets of Birmingham and Selma, and finally to Memphis, where an assassin's bullet ended Dr King's life. Young fought on, winning election to the United States House of Representatives, as the first African American to be elected to Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. As a Congressman, he supported a little-known former Governor of Georgia in his long-shot bid for the presidency, and when Jimmy Carter became President, he named Andrew Young to serve as his country's Ambassador to the United Nations. At the UN, Andrew Young maintained his commitment to universal human rights, plunging into the most challenging controversies of the day, including the liberation struggles of Southern Africa and the search for peace in the Middle East. He capped his career in public service with two terms as Mayor of Atlanta. Once again, he proved himself an able negotiator, balancing the interests of the business community with the needs of the city's poorest citizens, completing the city's transformation from a battleground of the Civil Rights era to the proud showplace of the modern South. Half a century after the battles of the 1960s, Andrew Young remains an outspoken champion for the rights of all mankind."/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/> <meta name="googlebot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <meta name="bingbot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Andrew J. Young | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Andrew Young was the pastor of a small country church when he faced down the Ku Klux Klan to organize a voter registration drive in South Georgia. He became the leading negotiator for the national Civil Rights Movement, enduring death threats, beatings and jail time to win for African Americans the rights of full citizenship they were promised by the Constitution, rights they had been long denied. Alongside his friend, Martin Luther King, Jr., he marched through the most dramatic episodes of the great struggle: from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the streets of Birmingham and Selma, and finally to Memphis, where an assassin's bullet ended Dr King's life. Young fought on, winning election to the United States House of Representatives, as the first African American to be elected to Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. As a Congressman, he supported a little-known former Governor of Georgia in his long-shot bid for the presidency, and when Jimmy Carter became President, he named Andrew Young to serve as his country's Ambassador to the United Nations. At the UN, Andrew Young maintained his commitment to universal human rights, plunging into the most challenging controversies of the day, including the liberation struggles of Southern Africa and the search for peace in the Middle East. He capped his career in public service with two terms as Mayor of Atlanta. Once again, he proved himself an able negotiator, balancing the interests of the business community with the needs of the city's poorest citizens, completing the city's transformation from a battleground of the Civil Rights era to the proud showplace of the modern South. Half a century after the battles of the 1960s, Andrew Young remains an outspoken champion for the rights of all mankind."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2020-04-02T17:01:14+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young-2final-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young-2final-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/","name":"Andrew J. 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Alongside his friend, Martin Luther King, Jr., he marched through the most dramatic episodes of the great struggle: from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the streets of Birmingham and Selma, and finally to Memphis, where an assassin's bullet ended Dr King's life. Young fought on, winning election to the United States House of Representatives, as the first African American to be elected to Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. As a Congressman, he supported a little-known former Governor of Georgia in his long-shot bid for the presidency, and when Jimmy Carter became President, he named Andrew Young to serve as his country's Ambassador to the United Nations. At the UN, Andrew Young maintained his commitment to universal human rights, plunging into the most challenging controversies of the day, including the liberation struggles of Southern Africa and the search for peace in the Middle East. He capped his career in public service with two terms as Mayor of Atlanta. 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role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young-2final-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young-2final-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young-2final-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Andrew J. Young</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Civil Rights Ambassador</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3298 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-activist careers-diplomat careers-politician"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="banner clearfix"> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/young_WhatItTakes_256x256-190x190.jpg" alt="What It Takes - Andrew Young"/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> Listen to this achiever on <i>What It Takes</i> </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>What It Takes</i> is an audio podcast produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: public service, science and exploration, sports, technology, business, arts and humanities, and justice.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-road-to-civil-rights/id502858497?mt=13" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/256X256-civilrightsbook-newwebsite-BE002421-Corbis-coretta-march-190x190.jpg" alt=""/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-road-to-civil-rights/id502858497?mt=13" target="_blank"> Download our free multi-touch iBook <i>The Road to Civil Rights</i> — available for your Mac or iOS device on Apple Books </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>The Road to Civil Rights</i> iBook takes readers on a journey through one of the most significant periods in America’s history. Travel through the timeline and listen to members of the American Academy of Achievement as they discuss the key events that shaped the future of the country.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">We as Americans are the champions of human rights. It's a revelation from God to our Founding Fathers.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Civil Rights Ambassador</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> March 12, 1932 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p>Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although public facilities in New Orleans were racially segregated, as in other Southern cities, the Crescent City’s heritage of ethnic diversity gave Andrew, Jr. early experience in dealing with people from a variety of backgrounds. His father, Andrew Young, Sr., was a dentist whose patients included the city’s best-known African American residents, such as musician Louis Armstrong and Olympian Ralph Metcalfe. He and his wife, Daisy Fuller Young, instilled their children with pride and self-respect. The elder Young hired a professional prizefighter to teach his sons to defend themselves so they could not be easily intimidated.</p> <figure id="attachment_16850" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16850" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-16850 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-16850 size-full lazyload" alt="The fastest men alive: Jesse Owens (1913-1980) and Ralph Metcalfe (1910-1978) dominated track and field events at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens and Metcalfe were boyhood heroes to Andrew Young. In the 1970s, Metcalfe and Young served in the U.S. Congress together. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1396" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP-380x233.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP-760x465.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16850" class="wp-caption-text">The fastest men alive: Jesse Owens (1913-1980) and Ralph Metcalfe (1910-1978) dominated track and field events at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens and Metcalfe were boyhood heroes to Andrew Young. During the 1970s, Ralph Metcalfe and Andrew Young served in the United States Congress together. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)</figcaption></figure> <p>As a youngster, Andrew Young, Jr.’s main interest was athletics, particularly swimming, and track and field, but he also excelled academically. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. when he was only 19. Although the Youngs were a religious family, young Andrew did not feel called to the ministry until after graduation, when a spiritual experience on a mountaintop led him to explore his religious feelings. He accompanied his pastor to a youth conference in Texas, where he was asked to volunteer for a national youth program based at Camp Mack, Indiana. There he was exposed for the first time to the philosophy of nonviolence, as taught by Mahatma Gandhi, the pacifist leader of India’s independence movement.</p> <figure id="attachment_8352" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8352" style="width: 532px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8352 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8352 size-full lazyload" alt="Andrew Young and his wife Jean Childs Young (1933-1994). "It was only with her help that I did everything," Andrew Young says. "If Martin and I had not married the little country girls we married from Alabama, you never would have heard our names." (City of Atlanta)" width="532" height="600" data-sizes="(max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy.jpg 532w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy-337x380.jpg 337w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8352" class="wp-caption-text">Andrew Young and his wife, Jean Childs Young. “It was only with her help that I did everything,” Young says. “If Martin and I had not married the little country girls from Alabama, you never would have heard our names.”</figcaption></figure> <p>He continued his volunteer work with the National Council of Churches, which assigned him to the New England area. While temporarily housed at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, he sat in on a number of classes and was soon offered a scholarship to study theology full-time. His decision to pursue the ministry brought him into serious conflict with his father for the first time. Andrew Young, Sr. had hoped his son would follow him into dentistry rather than the ministry. Andrew, Jr. hoped to try out for the 1952 Olympics as well, but when the National Council of Churches asked him to establish a summer Bible school and youth recreation program in Marion, Alabama, he answered the call. In Marion, he made the acquaintance of the Childs family, and saw a picture of their daughter Jean, who was away at college. Her picture — and her sports trophies — made a deep impression. “I decided, even before I met her, and before I saw her, that this was going to be my wife.”</p> <p>He met her soon enough, and when Jean told him she was going to Europe for the summer to do volunteer work with refugee children, he decided to follow her. He worked building a refugee center in Ried, Austria, while she worked in nearby Linz. Between work assignments, they traveled and visited Jean’s sister in Berlin. Andrew and Jean married in 1954, while Andrew completed his studies at Hartford Seminary. The following year, he was ordained as a minister of the United Church of Christ.</p> <figure id="attachment_17470" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17470" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-17470 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-17470 size-full lazyload" alt="The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. turns to answer a question from his seat in Geneva, May 28, 1967, as delegate to "Pacem In Terris II" unofficial conference on problems of peace, convoked by U.S. Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. At left is his aide, Andrew Young of Atlanta, Georgia. (AP Photo)" width="2280" height="2273" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049-760x758.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17470" class="wp-caption-text">May 28, 1967: The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. turns to answer a question from his seat in Geneva, as delegate to “Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) II” conference on the problems of peace, convoked by U.S. Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. At left is his aide, Andrew Young of Atlanta, and to Dr. King’s right is his wife, Coretta.</figcaption></figure> <p>Momentous changes were underway in the United States. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled — in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas — that separate schools were inherently unequal. This and subsequent decisions eliminated the legal justification for segregation. African Americans now demanded the long-denied rights guaranteed them in the Constitution. The year Andrew Young was ordained, a seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to a white man, as local law required, and was arrested. When her neighbors organized to defend her and boycott the city’s bus system, they chose as their leader a newly appointed 26-year-old pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr.</p> <p>After graduating from Hartford Seminary, Andrew Young was assigned to pastor a small church in Thomasville, Georgia. For years, discriminatory laws and intimidation had prevented African American citizens from voting in Thomasville. When Andrew Young organized a voter registration drive, the Ku Klux Klan mobilized to intimidate black voters. Young enlisted the town’s largest employers and persuaded the local authorities to bar the Klan from entering black neighborhoods.</p> <figure id="attachment_8356" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8356" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8356 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8356 size-full lazyload" alt="March 1965: In the cold and rain, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young lead African American citizens to the county courthouse in Selma, Alabama. The struggle to register black voters in Selma was one of the hardest fought episodes in the Civil Rights Movement, but it led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="3393" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900-255x380.jpg 255w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900-511x760.jpg 511w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8356" class="wp-caption-text">March 1965: Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young lead African American citizens to the county courthouse in Selma, Alabama. The struggle to register black voters in Selma was one of the hardest fought episodes in the Civil Rights Movement, but it led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1957, Andrew Young and Martin Luther King, Jr. met for the first time. Dr. King’s wife, Coretta Scott, had gone to high school with Jean Young; the two pastors became fast friends. Later that year, the Youngs accepted an assignment from the National Council of Churches in New York City. There, Andrew Young participated in a weekly national television program, <em>Look Up and Live</em>, which aired on CBS on Sunday mornings. A religious program designed to reach a broad audience, including young people and secular viewers, Andrew Young appeared on the show from 1957 to 1961.</p> <p>The Kings had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Council to mobilize people of faith to fight for human rights and civil equality. In 1961, the Youngs too moved to Atlanta. Andrew Young became one of Dr. King’s principal lieutenants. Working closely together, King and Young led desegregation movements in Birmingham, Alabama, in St. Augustine, Florida, and in its home base of Atlanta. King and the SCLC particularly relied on Young’s skills as a negotiator in their dealings with local governments and the white-dominated business community. Despite his diplomatic gifts, local authorities resisted calls for desegregation, and Young was jailed in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama following civil rights demonstrations there.</p> <p>Young participated in the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. The following year, Young was appointed Executive Director of the SCLC. He joined Dr. King on the march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama in 1965, which resulted in the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act, empowering the federal government to prosecute cases of voter discrimination. Young followed Dr. King to Memphis, Tennessee to support the city’s striking sanitation workers, and was with his friend at the Lorraine Motel when Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968.</p> <figure id="attachment_8349" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8349" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8349 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8349 size-full lazyload" alt="April 4, 1968: Memphis police join Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Martin Luther King, Jr. lies unconscious at their feet, felled by an assassin's bullet. He never regained consciousness. (Photo by Joseph Louw/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1846" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1-380x308.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1-760x615.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8349" class="wp-caption-text">April 4, 1968: Memphis police join Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Dr. King lies mortally wounded at their feet, felled by assassin’s bullet, and never regained consciousness.</figcaption></figure> <figure id="attachment_8350" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8350" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8350 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8350 size-full lazyload" alt="Andrew Young and others point Memphis police in the direction of the shot that felled Martin Luther King, Jr. The wounded civil rights leader is still lying where he fell. (Photo by Joseph Louw/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1530" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2-380x255.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2-760x510.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8350" class="wp-caption-text">Andrew Young and others point Memphis police in the direction of the shot that felled Martin Luther King, Jr. The wounded civil rights leader is still lying where he fell. (Photo by Joseph Louw/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure> <p>In the tumultuous years that followed, Young remained one of the most visible leaders of the nonviolent movement. While other activists became hopelessly disillusioned with the possibility of peaceful change, Andrew Young redoubled his efforts to make the American system of democracy work for all its people. Returning to Atlanta, Georgia, where he had worked for many years, he ran for the United States Congress in 1970 and was narrowly defeated. Two years later, he ran again; this time he was successful, and became the first African American to be elected to Congress from the Deep South in the 20th century. Young served with distinction in the House of Representatives and was re-elected in 1974 and 1976.</p> <figure id="attachment_8357" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8357" style="width: 1417px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8357 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8357 size-full lazyload" alt="March 1970: Reverend Andrew Young, Executive Vice President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, announces his candidacy for Congress. Young ran in Georgia's 5th District, which includes the city of Atlanta and most of Fulton County. He is seated with Coretta Scott King, his wife Jean, and Georgia State Representative Julian Bond. Mrs. King and Mrs. Young had known each other since high school. Young lost his first race for Congress in 1970, but came back and won the seat two years later. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="1417" height="960" data-sizes="(max-width: 1417px) 100vw, 1417px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992.jpg 1417w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992-760x515.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8357" class="wp-caption-text">1970: Andrew Young, Executive Vice President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, announces his candidacy for Congress. Young ran in Georgia’s 5th District, which includes the city of Atlanta. He is seated with Coretta Scott King, his wife Jean, and Georgia State Representative Julian Bond. Mrs. King and Mrs. Young had known each other since high school. Young lost his first race for Congress in 1970, but won the seat two years later.</figcaption></figure> <p>Congressman Young was an active supporter of former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. When Carter took office as President in 1977, he appointed Andrew Young to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Young became the face of the administration’s ambitious policy of engagement with developing countries and support for human rights around the world. Young’s time at the UN was a particularly stormy one, as the U.S. attempted to resolve a series of intractable regional conflicts. Young facilitated a peace settlement in Rhodesia that brought an end to white minority rule and empowered the black majority of the country, now known as Zimbabwe. In white-ruled South Africa, the U.S. supported an international arms embargo against the white minority government, but stopped short of full economic sanctions. Young also participated in the delicate diplomacy that led to the Panama Canal Treaty, in which control of the Canal Zone was finally returned to the Republic of Panama, relieving a source of long-standing tension between the United States and her sister Republics in Central America.</p> <figure id="attachment_8340" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8340" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8340 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8340 size-full lazyload" alt="January 30, 1977: Andrew Young takes office as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter look on as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall administers the oath of office. (AP Images)" width="2280" height="1587" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208-380x265.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208-760x529.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8340" class="wp-caption-text">1977: Andrew Young takes office as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter look on as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall administers the oath of office. (AP)</figcaption></figure> <p>Young’s greatest diplomatic challenge came in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. In 1978, President Carter successfully brokered the Camp David Peace Accord, making peace between Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, the United Nations was studying the conflicting claims of Israel and the Palestinians. When it was reported that Young had met privately with a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in New York, in an apparent reversal of the President’s previously stated policy, the administration’s critics demanded Young’s resignation. Young was trying to forestall a proposal in the UN Security Council calling for Palestinian statehood, a resolution he would have vetoed, as the U.S. representative. Young believed he was doing his duty as his country’s ambassador, but the political pressure became too great a distraction for the Carter administration, and in August 1979, at the President’s request, Young stepped down. In his last month in office, Carter awarded Andrew Young the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.</p> <figure id="attachment_8345" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8345" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8345 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8345 size-full lazyload" alt="February 5, 1990: Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, announces his candidacy for Governor of Georgia, with his wife Jean at his side. Young lost the state's Democratic primary in 1990, but continued his advocacy outside of the political process. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1420" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066-380x237.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066-760x473.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8345" class="wp-caption-text">1990: Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, announces his candidacy for Governor of Georgia, with wife, Jean. Young lost the state’s Democratic primary in 1990, but continued his advocacy outside of the political process.</figcaption></figure> <p>Returning to Atlanta, Young found another way to serve. The city’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, was retiring, barred by term limits from running for reelection in 1981. Urged by many friends in Atlanta, including Coretta Scott King, Young entered the race and won 55 percent of the vote. As Mayor, he drew $70 billion of private investment to the city and was easily reelected in 1985, receiving 80 percent of the votes cast. He brought the Democratic National Convention to the city in 1988, and initiated a campaign to host the Olympic Games. Although Atlanta’s bid was considered a long shot, in 1990, one year after Andrew Young left office as Mayor of Atlanta, it was announced that the 1996 Olympics would be held there.</p> <p>The next years were difficult for Andrew Young and his family. A spirited campaign for Governor of Georgia ended in defeat in 1990. Jean Young was diagnosed with cancer, and after a brave struggle, she died in 1994. She was survived by their four children.</p> <figure id="attachment_8342" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8342" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8342 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8342 size-full lazyload" alt="Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at the 2011 dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (AP Images/Cliff Owen)" width="2280" height="3589" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829-241x380.jpg 241w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829-483x760.jpg 483w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8342" class="wp-caption-text">Andrew Young speaks at the 2011 dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1996, the Summer Olympics put the eyes of the world on Atlanta, and the city Andrew Young had led for eight years proved itself ready for its moment in the spotlight. That year, Andrew Young married Carolyn McClain and gradually returned to public life. He has written a number of books including <em>A Way Out of No Way</em> (1994), and <em>An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America</em> (1998). In 2000, Andrew Young undertook a one-year term as President of the National Council of Churches, the organization he had first served as a 19-year-old volunteer. In 2003, he created the Andrew Young Foundation to support and promote education, health, leadership and human rights in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean.</p> <p>Today, a number of institutions in Georgia bear Andrew Young’s name. Andrew Young International Boulevard runs past Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, Morehouse College is home to the Andrew Young Center for International Studies, and for many years, Young himself has been a professor at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. A half-century after the heroic days of the Civil Rights Movement, as the anniversaries of the historic milestones were celebrated, Andrew Young remained greatly in demand as a speaker for his memories of those tumultuous times.</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1983 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.politician">Politician</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.activist">Activist</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.diplomat">Diplomat</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> March 12, 1932 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p>Andrew Young was the pastor of a small country church when he faced down the Ku Klux Klan to organize a voter registration drive in South Georgia. He became the leading negotiator for the national Civil Rights Movement, enduring death threats, beatings and jail time to win for African Americans the rights of full citizenship they were promised by the Constitution, rights they had been long denied. Alongside his friend, Martin Luther King, Jr., he marched through the most dramatic episodes of the great struggle: from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the streets of Birmingham and Selma, and finally to Memphis, where an assassin’s bullet ended Dr King’s life.</p> <p>Young fought on, winning election to the United States House of Representatives, as the first African American to be elected to Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. As a Congressman, he supported a little-known former Governor of Georgia in his long-shot bid for the presidency, and when Jimmy Carter became President, he named Andrew Young to serve as his country’s Ambassador to the United Nations. At the UN, Andrew Young maintained his commitment to universal human rights, plunging into the most challenging controversies of the day, including the liberation struggles of Southern Africa and the search for peace in the Middle East.</p> <p>He capped his career in public service with two terms as Mayor of Atlanta. Once again, he proved himself an able negotiator, balancing the interests of the business community with the needs of the city’s poorest citizens, completing the city’s transformation from a battleground of the Civil Rights era to the proud showplace of the modern South. Half a century after the battles of the 1960s, Andrew Young remains an outspoken champion for the rights of all mankind.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6AGUGbdyE7s?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=5625&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.00_15_51_18.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.00_15_51_18.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Civil Rights Ambassador</h2> <div class="sans-2">Washington, D.C.</div> <div class="sans-2">August 14, 2013</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputTextFirst"><b>You’ve done so many things in your life, but we can trace a lot of them back to your involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1950s and ’60s. How did you first decide to become involved with the movement?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Well, in a way, my wife Jean decided.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/nqXjWxtLoNY?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_29_44_08.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_29_44_08.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>When we married, she was determined that she wanted to stay in the South, that she wanted to be a teacher. Now the interesting thing was I had no real nasty racial experiences growing up. I could deal with the segregation, and I could always slide by and get along. That wasn’t true of her, it wasn’t true of Coretta Scott King. Her family had earned land out of the Reconstruction, so they were a wealthy rural family that had three or four businesses. When she was about 12 years old, white people found a way to swindle her family, her grand-uncle, out of the businesses, and on some kind of trumped-up charges. It was so depressing to her grandfather that he committed suicide, and her daddy became an alcoholic. And her mother, who was a teacher — her superintendent, realizing she was vulnerable and very attractive, tried to flirt with her and she hit him with an umbrella to beat him off. She got fired and was blacklisted and had to go two counties away to find a job. So that when Jean was like 12 years old, she was not only walking three miles to school, most of the time running, but she had to come home and cook and take care of her father, and she was very bitter about race. Now, Coretta had the same kind of experience. I mean, Coretta’s father had three different businesses that were destroyed by white people: a trucking company, a sawmill, and a grocery store. They were all sabotaged or burned because it was a county that resented black people having progress, being able to progress and being hard workers. So both Coretta and Jean were more committed, I think, to get into the struggle to do something about race than either me or Martin.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_8353" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8353" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8353 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8353 size-full lazyload" alt="Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta in December 1964. They are preparing to depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)" width="2280" height="2264" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069-380x377.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069-760x755.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8353" class="wp-caption-text">1964: Dr. King and his wife, Coretta, as they depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Do you think that Coretta pulled Martin into the Civil Rights Movement?</strong></p> <p>Andrew Young: I don’t think she pulled him in.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/U6nfYfd6Mzg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_23_25_05.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_23_25_05.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">I think he chose Montgomery, Alabama for all the wrong reasons. He wanted to finish his Ph.D. dissertation, and he picked the most conservative church in the South, where he’d have the most time to devote to his writing, and the least controversy. He was offered jobs in Atlanta and Philadelphia — and he turned all of those down — where they saw his leadership potential. He picked the most conservative job he was offered. He went to Montgomery to get away from the controversy. Atlanta was very aggressive. W.E.B. Du Bois, Walter White, Whitney Young were all in Atlanta. His father and his grandfather were both civil rights leaders in Georgia. And they wanted — Dr. Mays wanted — him to take over as president of Morehouse College. He was trying to get away from all of that leadership responsibility by picking Montgomery.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_8355" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8355" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8355 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8355 size-full lazyload" alt="The Rev. Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, at a 1964 press conference. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1502" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12-380x250.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12-760x501.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8355" class="wp-caption-text">1964: The Rev. Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>So what pushed Dr. King into a leadership role?</strong></p> <p>Andrew Young: Nothing. I mean God. That is the only explanation.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/RODStVNhN6U?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_28_38_16.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_28_38_16.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Two weeks after he finished his dissertation and mailed it back to Boston University, Rosa Parks sat down in a bus. He didn’t know anything about it, he didn’t plan it. But there was a group of women who were teachers at Tuskegee Institute and Alabama State University in Montgomery. It was kind of a progressive women’s club. They had been very upset about the way people were treated on the buses. Several young black women had been jailed, beaten, brutalized on the buses. But they didn’t feel as though they were — they were looking for the right person to start a protest. Well, Rosa Parks was one of the sweetest women in the world. She never raised her voice, everybody in town respected her. When they put her off the bus and took her to jail, they had their candidate. These women went to E.D. Nixon, who was the head of the NAACP, and they said, “Look, if you have the big Baptist minister or the big Methodist minister head this movement, we’re going to have the same old rivalry we’ve always had. Why don’t you try to convince them to let this young man…” — now he was 26 then — “Let this young man lead the movement.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Did he balk at that responsibility?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/oEFsutxD3no?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=145&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_22_23_24.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_22_23_24.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>When they were having the discussion and the vote, I understand, he was back in the back, running the mimeograph machine, doing flyers for the boycott. So when they came and got him and he came back in the meeting, and they told him he had been elected the president, it was like 6:30, 7:00 at night. He had one hour to prepare to get up and give a speech that had to be militant enough to galvanize people, but it had to be reasoned, and passive enough to keep people’s anger from boiling over into violence. The only reason we know about that was Coretta had just had her baby, Yolanda, and she couldn’t come. She got the choir director from Alabama A&M to take one of these big two-reel tape recorders, because she didn’t know what he was going to say. He didn’t have time. But she got — I think his name was Robert Williams — to go there and record the speech. And if you want to hear it, the best way to hear it is by ordering <i>The Autobiography of Martin Luther King</i> by Clayborne Carson of Stanford University. What he’s done is, it’s an oral history, but Martin’s words are read by LeVar Burton, until it’s time for the speeches, and then they have the actual recording of his voice. So when you read about the context in which this speech emerged, it’s miraculous. But all of the themes that later occurred in the March on Washington, his Nobel Prize speech and the Mountaintop speech, you can see glimpses of that. Not even whole sentences, but you can see that at 26 years old, this was the seed of a powerful international voice.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/wIi9WRU5d-I?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0&end=93&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_22_23_24.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_22_23_24.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Andrew Young: I didn’t know him then. That was 1955. I didn’t meet him until two years later, in 1957, when he was already a big shot and I was pastoring a little country church in South Georgia. The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity invited us to Talladega College in Alabama for a religious emphasis week. I always said they invited him and they didn’t think he would come, so they invited me as a backup, and it turned out we both showed up. That’s when we met in 1957, and when my wife was with me, he started talking to her and realized that she and Coretta had known each other in high school. So he invited us to stop back at his home as we were driving back to Georgia. So we stopped off and had dinner with him. I remember that I knew who he was and I’d read about him, and I kept trying to talk civil rights or theology, or trying to — I don’t know what I was trying to do — but he wouldn’t talk about anything but his baby. He was crazy about this little girl. Of course, I had a three-month-old daughter too, so we met as fathers who married women from the same little country town.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_8338" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8338" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8338 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-8338 lazyload" alt="Activist and family man, Andrew Young observes the Poor People's Campaign Solidarity Day at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., June 1968. Marchers had walked to the capital from Quitman County, Mississippi, the poorest county in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had planned the campaign, had been murdered only two months before. (© William James Warren/Science Faction/Corbis)" width="2280" height="3420" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314-507x760.jpg 507w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8338" class="wp-caption-text">1968: Andrew Young observes the Poor People’s Campaign Solidarity Day at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C. Marchers had walked to the capital from Quitman County, Mississippi, the poorest county in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had planned the campaign, had been murdered only two months before.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>How did you start to work with Dr. King? How did you get involved in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference?</strong></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/8KDMuoGdVeQ?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_02_59_21.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_02_59_21.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">We had been shopping in Albany, Georgia, and we were driving back, Jean and me, with a three-month-old baby in a bassinet in the back seat of this little Nash Rambler. We go around the curve in this little town called Doerun, Georgia, and I was going pretty fast and there were people all over the streets. I slowed down quickly, and there must have been a hundred people in sheets with their pointed hats. They didn’t have their face masks on, but I turned the corner and I was in the middle of a Klan rally. I realized that they were coming to Thomasville because I had put up signs about a voter registration drive. And I expected to — I was prepared for it — and so I said to Jean, I said, “Look…” And she’s a country girl. One of the things we used to do on dates is go out in the backyard and shoot tin cans. So she was a good shot. And I said, “Look, I’m going to try to reason with these people if they come to visit us, and I want you to sit in the window and just point our rifle at the guy I’m talking to.” See, I’d been to theology school and I was —<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I mean, I grew up in the Second World War, where Reinhold Niebuhr and others criticized the church for being pacifist. So I wanted her to sit up there, and we were talking then about negotiating from a position of strength. So I said, “You point the gun at him, and then I can reason with him as a brother. Because if he takes me out, you take him out.” And she said, “I’m not going to do that.” I said, “What do you mean? What are you going to do?” She said, “I’m not going to point a gun at a human being.” I said, “That’s not a human being, that’s the Ku Klux Klan!” She said, “Look, don’t you forget it. Under that sheet is the heart of a child of God.” And my idea was, “Damn, woman! What kind of woman did I marry?” And she said, “No, we’re not going to point guns. We’re not.” She said, “If you don’t believe in what you preach, we need to quit now.” And so she forced me to rethink it.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ieKOh3LT5dE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_01_43_15.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Young-Andrew-2013-XDCAM-01485001.01_01_43_15.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">I called one of the leaders of the community, and he suggested that we go downtown to see the Mayor, who ran the local hardware store. And while we were there, he called the head of Sunnyland Packing Company and Flowers Bakery. They were the two largest employers in the town. They decided with us that they would not let the Klan come into the black community and intimidate us and interfere with our voter registration drive. But they would respect the Klan’s right to have a meeting on the courthouse steps. So that was my first test of nonviolence. What it taught me was that the best way to avoid violence is to head it off. Not wait for a confrontation where violence is almost inevitable, but that you’ve got to be more aggressive in pursuing what Gandhi called “organized, aggressive, disciplined goodwill.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>When you think of nonviolence, it’s not a passive thing, so the aggressive action of going to see the Mayor and mobilizing the business community is exactly what I did. This was 1956.</p> </div>    <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p class="inputText"><b>You moved to New York City for a while in the late ’50s, didn’t you? What were you doing there?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: When I went to New York, I was working with the National Council of Churches. One of my assignments was the television program <i>Look Up and Live</i>. We had a half-hour program every Sunday morning that I was sort of a producer and consultant on. So I had four years of experience working in television when I went back to work with Martin Luther King. It was out of the church work that I got to the National Council of Churches. When we saw the Nashville sit-in story in 1961, Jean said, “It’s time for us to go back home.” So we left New York and went back to Atlanta. And I ended up in Martin Luther King’s office, right across the hall.</p> <p class="inputText">In 1963, in Birmingham, as soon as we got there, I said to Dr. King, “I want to go meet with some of the business leaders.” He said, “How are you going to do that?” And it turned out that while at this conference that I’d been to in Camp Mack, one of the people there was from the Episcopal Church in Alabama. She was the diocesan youth director. So I called her and asked her would she set up a meeting between Dr. King and the bishop. And she said, “Well, I don’t know Dr. King, but I know you. And if you will come and see the bishop, <i>you</i> can then set up the meeting between Dr. King and the bishop.” And Bishop Murray then was new, but he agreed with me that the Episcopal Church House would be a good place to have negotiations between the business and the Civil Rights Movement. So all of this was what led up to the March on Washington. Birmingham was — desegregation day was May the 5th. Students whom we had trained just walked out of schools and walked downtown. We’d had a boycott on, not buying anything but food or medicines for 90 days. I think almost 5,000 high school students marched downtown and were arrested. There were so many of them they put them in the stadium where they have the Iron Bowl.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>When was this?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: This is from 1963, with Fred Shuttlesworth. It shows the connection between why I was always put into negotiations, because I had done it all my life. It was why Carter wanted me to go to the United Nations, because I knew leaders from around the world.</p> <figure id="attachment_8343" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8343" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8343 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8343 size-full lazyload" alt="The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. The crowd included a host of celebrated public figures, as well as thousands of ordinary men and women, marching for "Jobs and Freedom." A few seats to the right of Dr. King is gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. King was ready to conclude his timed remarks when Jackson exhorted him to "tell them about the Dream." Dr. King's speech that day has become one of the most cherished orations in American history. (AP Images)" width="2280" height="1517" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756-760x506.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8343" class="wp-caption-text">The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. The crowd included a host of celebrated public figures, as well as thousands of ordinary men and women, marching for “Jobs and Freedom.” A few seats to the right of Dr. King is gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. King was ready to conclude his timed remarks when Jackson exhorted him to “tell them about the Dream.” Dr. King’s speech that day has become one of the most cherished orations in American history. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputText"><b>You participated in the planning of the March on Washington in 1963. How did that come about?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Well actually, the March on Washington grew out of the demonstrations in Alabama in 1963, in May, that these 5,000 students from about four or five different high schools really shut down the town, the economy. They had all read Gandhi, and they’d read about Gandhi’s salt march to the sea. So under Fred Shuttlesworth’s leadership, and James Bevel’s leadership, Bevel had organized the students for the massive jail-in. All of this was replicating what Gandhi had done in India. So they saw the salt march to the sea, that Gandhi’s protests against the British, the counterpart of that would be a March on Washington. When they started, they were talking about, “No, we just get out on the highway and walk down Highway 11 and we’ll get there when we get there. We’ll eat along the way and we’ll demonstrate along the way.” And that was kind of organized chaos. And A. Phillip Randolph called Dr. King and said, “Look, I hear you’re thinking about a March on Washington. We’ve been trying to organize one since Franklin Roosevelt’s time. Why don’t we work together? So Dr. Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Bayard Rustin convened a meeting of the six civil rights organizations. And they then planned this March on Washington.</p> <figure id="attachment_8339" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8339" style="width: 2012px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8339 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8339 size-full lazyload" alt="Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. greets the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963. His speech that day -- with its memorable refrain of "I Have a Dream..." -- lifted the Civil Rights Movement from a regional campaign for the rights of a minority to a global struggle for universal human rights. (AP Photo)" width="2012" height="2920" data-sizes="(max-width: 2012px) 100vw, 2012px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013.jpg 2012w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013-262x380.jpg 262w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013-524x760.jpg 524w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8339" class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. greets the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963. His speech that day — with its memorable refrain of “I Have a Dream…” — lifted the Civil Rights Movement from a regional campaign for the rights of a minority to a global struggle for universal human rights.<br>(AP Photo)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputText">I had little or nothing to do with the planning, because we were still having demonstrations in the South. I went from Birmingham in June and July, over to Savannah, where I ended up trying to get Hosea Williams out of jail and got put in jail myself. But we had been mobilizing, organizing constantly, since the whole month of 1963. So I really wasn’t that excited about coming to Washington. I thought this was going to be a nice little tea party and the real movement was in the South. I didn’t see any sense in standing up in front of the — I’d been to a march on Washington in 1957, where Dr. King spoke about “Give us the ballot.” It was a nice rally. We were trying to change the South and we were a little too arrogant to see that a Southern black movement could not change America.</p> <p class="inputText">What it took was a national movement that brought together the churches, the university community. It was what Dr. King called a coalition of goodwill, a coalition of conscience. And he said, “We’ll never be a majority. We’ll never be a black majority, but there is in America a majority of people of goodwill. And it doesn’t matter what color they are, what their vocations are, or their national origin or religion. We want to gather this coalition of conscience to help change America.” And we not only did that, but I think that his speech so electrified not only the audience there, but it was heard around the world. It linked up the dreams and aspirations of an oppressed people with the Constitution of the United States, which was linked to the creation of God, by God. We are endowed not by wealth or color, we are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights. That meant not just Americans were endowed by the creator. Americans were the first to recognize it, but when they heard that in Communist East Germany, they started singing “We Shall Overcome,” too. When they heard that in South Africa — so I think — and the farm workers of California and Texas, with Cesar Chavez. This became a rallying cry to change the world without violence, and we’ve almost succeeded.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>As you look back and remember the March on Washington, is there anything about that day that we would be surprised to know?</b></p> <figure id="attachment_8341" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8341" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8341 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8341 size-full lazyload" alt="An aerial view of the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the historic 1963 March on Washington. (AP Images) " width="2280" height="2928" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031-296x380.jpg 296w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031-592x760.jpg 592w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8341" class="wp-caption-text">An aerial view of the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the historic 1963 March on Washington. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: None of us were able to estimate how big the turnout would be. And we were all surprised, because the nation’s capital was seeing this as a threat. They were mobilizing the Army and the National Guard, and they were expecting trouble. What happened was people and their families turned out, and they dressed up like they were going to church. The trainloads came from the South, and they came down from New York, and Philadelphia, and there was a planeload of movie stars, which included — Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier organized it — but it included Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando and Paul Newman and Joann Woodward, and Diahann Carroll. I mean, there was a Latin dancer, Rita Moreno, Tony Bennett. And we said, “Hey, this is something!” We had not anticipated how big this was. It really universalized the movement and made it not just a black Southern movement, but it made it a national movement. It made it a multi-racial movement, and it made it a movement for human rights in general, not just against segregation.</p> <p class="inputText">Martin Luther King’s speech was that the Constitution, he interpreted it as a promissory note written by the Founding Fathers, that all men would be endowed one day by life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. It wasn’t a reality in 1776, and it’s not yet a reality in 1963. But it’s a process, and up until now black people had been denied access. He said America had presented the Negro with a bad check, and that when we went to the bank of justice our check was returned, marked “insufficient funds.” But he said, “I just don’t believe that the bank of justice in America is bankrupt. I still have a dream, that someday…” And so it was in the context of economic deprivation and unfulfilled promises to people who were poor and black and immigrant that he said, “I still have faith in America.” And I think that’s still true today.</p> <p class="inputText">We still have made progress. We’ve made progress on race, but it wasn’t about race. And it wasn’t just about war. We’ve made progress on war. But we’ve not made a great deal of progress on dealing with poverty. In fact the percentage of people in poverty now, in 2013, is larger than the percentage of people — we were all moving into the middle class in 1963. By 2013, we’re losing ground in the middle class, and not gaining much in the poor. So we still have something to march about. But the difference now is that we know — since Martin Luther King made that speech — we’ve understood that there’s no such thing as a national economy. That our economies are intertwined, that we’re all part of a global, he would say it, “network of mutuality.” We’re bound together in a single garment of destiny. Not only black and white, but with China. China and India, and Europe and Japan, and Latin America. So we are not going to solve the problems of poverty for Americans alone. We’re going to have to expand Martin Luther King’s dream, and our thinking, to include all of God’s children, because our Constitution says that all men — and we assume women and children — are endowed by the Creator with those inalienable rights. We as Americans are the champions of human rights. It’s a revelation from God to our Founding Fathers. But it’s not something that we can hoard. It’s like my grandmamma told me, “To those to whom much has been given, of them will much be required.”</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Was the “I Have a Dream” speech written in advance? Was that something that he had prepared?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: No. He was only given nine minutes to speak. There was a lot of rivalry and a little pettiness between all the organizations. Everybody wanted to speak first, because in those days we figured to get on the six o’clock news you had to speak before three o’clock. So everybody wanted to speak first, and they were jockeying for position. And he said, “I’ll speak last.” But everybody else spoke too long, and he was trying to discipline himself to stay within his nine minutes that was allotted. And the speech that he wrote was exactly nine minutes. And the night before, in this Willard Hotel, he was walking around timing it. But the story goes — I know that he had made that same “I Have a Dream” speech in Detroit back in June, and Mahalia Jackson had been there — Mahalia Jackson, so I’ve heard, had just finished singing when Martin got up to speak. And as he got toward the end, Mahalia kept saying, “Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream.” And he launched into this “I have a dream…” sequence. Now it was not written down. He had delivered a similar variation, but when you look at the speech that he gave, with no preparation, as a 26-year-old, you hear him talking about dreams. You hear him talking about the visions of America’s future. You hear the seeds of a genius, planted by God, in a single little individual who was five feet, seven inches tall, and weighed 160 pounds. One of the things I’m really most proud of is that now he’s got a 30-foot statue here on the Mall, because we always wanted to be tall.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>So Dr. King’s decision to address “the Dream” in his speech that day was really extemporaneous.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: When people say extemporaneous, I always say, the implication is “off the cuff.” And no, I think when we were in constant struggle like that, you’re struggling with issues and ideas. And he never slept. Ralph used to say, “Martin’s got a war on sleep, not on poverty.” Because he would want to discuss things — two, three o’clock in the morning. Then he’d wake up at six o’clock in the morning, raring to go again. He was always reading or talking or arguing. So his life was a life of constant preparation. He’d done a lot of — and he had a brilliant memory. So he could go back and quote Shakespearean things that he had not seen since he was in college, or he could — because he was a preacher, preaching every Sunday — he’d always get the right Bible verse at the right time. It was his life.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Could you tell us about the events in St. Augustine, Florida, in the spring of 1964?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Right after the March on Washington, President Johnson — I mean, President Kennedy — did introduce the Civil Rights bill. But then, about six weeks later — well, three weeks later — four little girls were killed in a church in Birmingham, and — we don’t hear much about it, but there were two teenage boys who were killed on bicycles, the same day — and it was a terribly depressing time for us. And then, six weeks later, the President was killed. And that was a very dark, depressing time for us, because he said, “You know, if they can’t protect the President, with 400 Secret Service, you know our days are numbered! Any day can be our last.” And then he’d laugh and joke about it. And he said, “So you better be always ready.’ And then he had a way of disarming you when you get nervous and scared. He’d say, “But don’t worry, Andy. You’ll probably take a bullet before me, but I’ll preach you into heaven!” And then he’d start preaching your funeral, and having you laugh at all the things you wouldn’t want anybody to say in church about you. He would say it like he was preaching your eulogy. But we were very nervous about how this bill was going to be passed.</p> <p class="inputText">There had been a civil rights movement in St. Augustine, Florida, since 1960. He sent me down to St. Augustine, early 1964, to stop the movement, because we were afraid. The Klan was very aggressive and violent down in Florida. It still is, kind of. And he didn’t want there to be any retaliation. So he sent me to stop the movement. And when I got down there, and I told them — there were a couple hundred Klansmen down in the park — “Dr. King said we don’t need to march any more, that the battle has moved to Washington. And he’s afraid that any violence will make it impossible to pass a civil rights bill.” But people were what we had learned to call “freedom high.” And they said, “We’re not waiting on Washington. We want to be free here.” And so I agreed to lead them. We went down and marched down, and I thought when they saw the Klan they’d be ready to turn around. But we stopped and prayed, and I said, “Anybody…” I said, “We really don’t have to go down and face this kind of violence,” and so we could go back to the church. And some lady started singing, “Be Not Dismayed What Ere Betide, God Will Take Care of You.” And she, and everybody, said, “We want to march. We don’t want the Klan to turn us around.” So I had to lead them down there, and when I got there — we were mostly women and children — and there were a couple of hundred, mostly pretty big men, with chains and bricks and bottles.</p> <p class="inputText">So, to try to keep them safe, I kept them on one side of the street, and I went across the street, as was my custom, trying to reason with the Klan. And I was doing pretty good, I thought, until somebody hit me on the back of the head with a blackjack, and then somebody — I was knocked out. And then, I didn’t know what happened, but somebody picked me up and I went back, and I said, “We can’t turn around now. We have to go down to the next corner.” And this time, when they kicked at me and swung at me, I was able to move. And finally a policeman showed up and said, “No, let them go through.” Now, 45 years later, I met that policeman. And it turned out he was a young Greek who had just come to Florida, and he was a big guy, six-six, 250, 300 pounds. And when he told the crowd to step back — and later on his wife became the mayor — and when I went down to make a movie about 1964, I met him. I had never seen the films of what happened to me until one of the students from Flagler College, in a project on Southern history — turned out that her father was the police chief and she got this file footage of me getting beat up, and Martin Luther King’s fingerprints where they arrested him, because later he came down and joined the march. Because there was no way of stopping it. We just had to make sure that it stayed nonviolent, which we did.</p> <p class="inputText">On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Bill was passed, and we went back to St. Augustine, to the same places, on the fifth of July. And it was — well, I always use the 23rd Psalm — that when I was marching in early, I would say to myself, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.” And then, when we went back there, and went into the same restaurants where they’d arrested people before, the lady poured coffee, and I thought to myself, “Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil ’til my cup runneth over.” And the lady pouring coffee for Dr. King was nervous and she overflowed the cup. And she said, “Oh, excuse me. I’ll get you another one.” He said, “No, no, no, no. It’s supposed to be like that!”</p> <p class="inputText"><b>The events in Selma, Alabama, on March 9, 1965, how did that change the course of history?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Well, Martin won the Nobel Prize after the ’64 bill passed. And in January — in December of 1964, we went to Norway for him to receive the Nobel Prize. And coming back, we stopped in Washington to see President Johnson, and he was saying that there was no way he could introduce another civil rights bill. He went on for over an hour about the President not having as much power, and he had pushed Congress about as far as he could push them. So we left there, and I was a little disappointed, and I asked Dr. King, “Well, what did you think?” And he said, “I think we got to find a way to get this president a little more power.” And, you know, I’m thinking this guy is crazy. Mrs. Amelia Boynton from Selma, who’s now 103, but who then was still in her 50s, came over and said what was going on in Selma. That her husband, they wouldn’t even let her husband’s funeral go into a church, because they said her husband was too political and it was against the law to talk politics in the church. You couldn’t walk down the street with more than two people. Sheriff Jim Clark had created a police state. And she said that we can’t survive this way, you got to come to Selma to help us. And so, on the second of January, just two weeks after President Lyndon Johnson said he didn’t have the power, we went to Selma. And by the end of March, President Johnson was standing before a joint session of Congress, and introducing voting rights legislation which later passed. But he ended his speech with “We shall overcome.” Now, that sounds easy, except that there were several deaths. Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion, Alabama was killed by a state trooper. Jonathan Daniels, Reverend James Reeb, Father Morrisroe. Stokely Carmichael was shot at. Viola Liuzzo was killed coming back from the march in Montgomery. So we gave the President the power, but it really cost the blood of many people that were willing to sacrifice their lives that this nation might, as Dr. King would say, live out the true meaning of its creeds.</p> <figure id="attachment_8351" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8351" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8351 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-8351 size-full lazyload" alt="The surviving leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, close the lid of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s coffin after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1815" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3-380x303.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235427im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3-760x605.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235427/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8351" class="wp-caption-text">The surviving leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, close the lid of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s coffin after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure> <p class="inputText"><b>You were with Dr. King when he was killed in Memphis. How did that moment change your life and this nation?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: In a very strange way, it liberated his spirit from his body. At first I was angry, not at the people for killing him, but for him leaving us. Because he had a firm faith in life beyond this world. So he was not afraid of death. We used to think sometimes that, he was almost — knowing it was inevitable — but he’d say, “You don’t have anything. You’re going to die. Everybody’s going to die. You have no choice about where you die, how you die. Your only choice is what you die for.” And he had reached a point where he was determined to give his life for the poor. We had launched a poor people’s campaign to come to Washington. But on the way, sanitation workers in Memphis called him. And even though he was very, very busy — we were in New York and due in Washington the next day — that night, he told us about midnight, “Well, look, I’m going to get up and catch that six o’clock plane to Memphis.” I said, “What are you going there for? We’re in a poor people’s…” He said, “Yeah, but I can’t go to Washington and talk about poverty and leave the poorest of the poor down there alone.” And he said, “I’ll get there about nine o’clock, gain an hour. And I’ll still meet you all in Washington in time for the eight o’clock meeting Monday night.” So he said, “You all go on to Washington.” So he and Bernard Lee, his traveling companion, went on alone, and the march was, I think, deliberately disrupted by provocateurs. And it meant that we had to go back there to have another march. And that kind of set him up to be killed. But he did, he went, knowingly.</p> <p class="inputText">He had no illusions about where he was going, or the dangers. In fact, I had one of the reporters tell me one time in Montgomery, he said, “Look…” he was one of the good guys that was always with us, and he said, “I know I get in your way,” he said. “But you got to cut me a little slack, Andy, because if something happens to Dr. King and I don’t get a picture of it, I’ll lose my job.” So everywhere we went, every day, his life was on the line. And people invited him because they knew he would bring the national press to those issues. He knew that, and he did it willingly, and figured that that was his point, that was his reason for living. He’d always say, “If you haven’t found something you’re willing to die for, you’re not good to live.” That you ought to find something you’re willing to give your life to, because it’s so easy to die for nothing.</p> <p><b>Could you tell us about your meeting with Kartha DeLoach, of the FBI, and the government surveillance of Martin Luther King?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: When Martin was nominated for the Nobel Prize, J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, said that he was the world’s most notorious liar. We also received a tape, from the Willard Hotel, that seemed to suggest that there was evidence on here that would be released before he’d receive the Nobel Prize. And that the only way to stop it was for him to — the implication was for him to commit suicide. That this would destroy his life and everything he stood for. And when we got it, we didn’t pay any attention to it. We sent it to Coretta. And it wasn’t until after we came back from the Nobel Prize that she saw the letter, which was more threatening than anything he’d ever received. And then she listened to the tape, and they obviously had bugged somebody’s room here in the Willard Hotel. But when we listened to it, they had nothing in it about Martin. They had bugged the room that he had slept, where he had written the speech, but we also, with our wives, had rooms other places on the floor. So when we left there, somebody else came into that room, or I don’t know where they got the — but we realized that they were serious about destroying him, so we got Daddy King to call a friend of his, Archibald Carey, from Chicago, who was a good friend of Hoover’s. And we asked him to set up an appointment with J. Edgar Hoover.</p> <p class="inputText">When we went to see J. Edgar Hoover, he talked constantly about how we had been critical of the FBI not having any black agents. I think he then made his driver an FBI agent. But we didn’t get to talk about these rumors and attacks on Martin’s life, because he talked for the whole hour. So I asked, “Could I come back?” and he said, “Yes, you can come back.” I said, “There’s some other things we wanted to bring up.” So he set up a meeting with Kartha DeLoach, who was his assistant, and Reverend Abernathy, Reverend Walter Fauntroy, and I came back up to meet with Kartha DeLoach and his assistant. And they were accusing us of having communist… and of having Swiss bank accounts, and I kept asking them, “Can you give us some indication of how these work, or where they are, or who?” Then he sent me to the House Un-American Activities Committee. So there was really no communication there, but we realized we had a powerful enemy. But he didn’t let that deter him.</p> <p class="inputText">This is two years ago, I put a fence up around my house, and to have the automatic gate connect to the phone. A friend from my church was putting in the phone, and he said, “You have five lines coming to your house.” I said, “No, we only have four.” And he said, “No, there’s a fifth line.” I said, “Well, see where it goes.” And it went down the street about six houses down to what used to be part of a mixed neighborhood. And I don’t know who lived there, but there was a line going from my house to another house way down the street where I figure we’d probably been bugged since the ’60s, and I just found out about it last year. I don’t think the line was still active, but we kind of took for granted that everything we did was monitored. Our attitude was that we wanted them to know what we were doing, and that they always thought we were up to something anti-American, or something to overthrow the government, communist. So we never… I mean, when we found bugs, we didn’t move them. Down in Selma, Ralph found a bug up under the pulpit, and instead of moving it, he put it on top of the pulpit so it would record without static. I think that part of what made us successful was that we were willing to be transparent.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Your campaign for Congress in 1970 was not successful, but you ran again and won just two years later. What made you think you could win the second time, after losing the first time?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Well, two things happened that made a difference. One, I knew what I was doing, and I knew what I had done wrong. I had followed the experts and put the money I had in television. The second time around I spent almost no money on television. The only money I spent on television, I spent on Ted Turner’s station, late at night on something called <i>Creature Feature</i> and wrestling. Because those were things that I knew people looked at. But we spent most of our money organizing people door-to-door. Times had changed, and I was able to — it was a pouring down rain — but we were so well organized that we got a 74 percent turnout of black voters, and we got almost 14 percent of the white vote. I saw the headline that somebody sent me from a paper, and the headline on the paper said, “White Voters Elect Young.” And that was true, because we couldn’t have done it with just black voters, when I think at that time the district was just 32 percent black. So I did have the time to get known throughout the white community, and I ran a better campaign.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Where were you when you learned that President Carter wanted you to serve at the United Nations?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: I was on a tennis court in Lesotho with the President of Miami University, Donna Shalala, and they called and asked me to come to the phone. It was a local TV station calling. And I said, “Tell them I’m not interested. I’m staying in Congress, and anyway, I’m playing tennis.” I wouldn’t stop, I wouldn’t take the call, because it was ridiculous. I had decided I was going to stay in Congress. And I also had decided that Barbara Jordan would make a much better U.N. ambassador than I would. And so when I went back, I was confident that I could convince Jimmy Carter to appoint Barbara Jordan. And he said, “The only thing is, she is a better speaker, a great lawyer, and yes, in every way she’s better than you, but one.” And I said, “Okay, so go with the best.” He said, “No. You were with Martin Luther King, and we’re serious about human rights. And the only way our human rights efforts will have any credibility around the world is if somebody who was with Martin Luther King becomes the spokesman for them.” And I said, “Well you know, it’s going to be controversial because,” I said, “I’m not going to listen to the State Department when they’re still advocating policies that Martin gave his life to oppose.” And he said, “I’m aware of that. That’s one of the reasons why I want you to be there.” And I said, “Well, let me come in the second term.” And he said, “There may not be a second term. In fact, we have to do whatever we’re going to do right now.”</p> <p class="inputText">He gave me a note saying, “I want you to go to Africa immediately and ask African leaders what they expect of this administration.” Now the operative word is “ask,” because I found out later that he gave the same kind of message to Walter Mondale going to Japan, Bob Strauss going to the Middle East, and Cyrus Vance going to our European allies. It was probably the first time America took a humble approach to foreign policy. And you know, during the four years he was President, we never lost an American life, and we never had an American soldier killed in battle. We normalized relations with the Soviet Union. He had a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. We normalized relations with Panama, and the Panama Canal Treaty was negotiated. And we started the process of the change of Southern Africa without violence.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>You were representing the United States at the U.N. when our country brokered the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. What are your recollections of that time?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: My recollection was that everybody was willing, was ready. And what most people don’t know is I had had two meetings, one with Shimon Peres — who was the former Prime Minister of Israel — at Harry Belafonte’s house, and for four hours he talked about what could we do to help them with the Palestinian question. And then, a week or so later, I had a two-hour breakfast with Moshe Dayan, who was the Foreign Minister, on how could America get involved in helping Israel with the Palestinian question. And in both of those I — reneged — and said that that has to be the President and the Secretary of State. But then a month later, the Committee on Palestinian Rights saved their report from June to August, when I was the President of the Security Council and there was no way I could get out of it. But I met with the Palestinians preparing for that meeting, which was my responsibility and my legal right. I was meeting with them to try to get them to withdraw that resolution, because I knew I was going to have to veto it. And it was trying to keep a relationship going, talks going, between Israel and the Palestinians, even though — now, the truth of it is, the State Department wanted to say that I had lied about the meeting. That was not true. Not only did I — I would not lie about the meeting. I called the Israeli ambassador first and told him I was going to meet, and I gave him a report of the meeting as soon as I came out. We wrote the cables to the State Department and they were fully aware of my intentions, of my obligations. I think that it was just time for me to go back to Atlanta.</p> <p class="inputText">I resigned amidst a great controversy, and to sort of soften that, I took a delegation to Africa, to show that there was tremendous trade potential with Africa. And I think we signed almost two-and-a-half billion dollars’ worth of agreements in that trip. Then I went back to Atlanta, just in time. Atlanta had decided it did not want another black mayor. We’d had a biracial coalition that had run the city for the last 38 years and it was breaking. So they asked me would I run for mayor. Because they thought I could win, and I could get more white support than anybody else, and I knew how to organize my voters. So I ended up being mayor. But the mayor was a $50,000-a-year job. I had one child in law school, one child in engineering school and another one had just been accepted at Duke. So I didn’t know how I was going to live, and fortunately my wife ended up working with IBM on a children’s program, writing to read on computers, and she made enough money to help our kids get through school.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>So it was only with her help that you were able to take that job as mayor.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: It was only with her help that I did everything. The tragedy was that after 40 years of marriage she died of cancer. I say that if Martin and I had not married the little country girls we married from Alabama, you never would have heard our names.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Do you think there was anything in your upbringing that prepared you to play the role you have, as a negotiator and an ambassador?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: I think mostly it just happened. I really think I was born into it. When people say, “Where did you become an ambassador?” I said, “In my neighborhood.” Because I grew up in New Orleans, and there was an Irish grocery store on one corner, an Italian bar on another corner, and the Nazi Party headquarters was on the third corner. So, born in 1932. By 1935, ’36, my aunt lived right behind the Nazi party, and there was no air conditioning, so the windows were open and my father had to explain to me why these people were <i>heil</i>ing Hitler. And he did a very interesting thing. He took me to the movies to see the 1936 Olympics, and Jesse Owens. When Jesse Owens won his first race, Hitler got up and walked out, because this, in his own quiet way, was a refutation of white supremacy. He said, “You see, racism is a sickness,” my father said. He said, “Jesse didn’t get mad. When Hitler walked out, he just went on and won three more gold medals.” And he said, “The thing you need to remember is that you don’t get mad with sick people, you help them. And you can’t help them unless you try to understand them.” So even as a four- or five-year-old, he was trying to make me responsible for understanding racism. He didn’t expect it to change, but he wanted me to be able to survive and thrive.</p> <p class="inputText">He used to say all the time, “You’re in a struggle, but if you get in a fight and lose your temper, you’ll lose the fight. So don’t get mad, get smart.” And I think that he taught me how to think my way through. He taught me the importance of understanding people who were my enemies, or who thought they were my enemies. And he gave me the challenge that, “People don’t like you, and it’s their problem, not yours.” So you have to find a way to help them overcome their insecurities. Now, he didn’t use that language to a four-year-old, but it was almost. They never talked down to me. They always made me stand up. And he always said… My grandmama always said that — well, my dad did, too, — my grandmother said, “If somebody picks on you, you fight back.” And my daddy said that if you know how to fight, you don’t have to fight. So he used to take us to boxing matches, and the boxers would give me and my brother boxing lessons.</p> <p class="inputText">He was a dentist, and so most of his suppliers were Jewish, in the middle of the war, the beginning of the Second World War. I had to understand what was going on in the world to survive in my neighborhood. And then, because it was segregated, I had to go out of that neighborhood to another neighborhood where I was “the little rich kid” whose parents had been to college. So I had to deal with poverty, and how to accept privilege as a responsibility and not as a burden. But there was no hiding place, no separating me from the problems of the world. I’m grateful for that because by the time I was six, I had become pretty well adjusted to what was going wrong with the world.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Your dad was a dentist, your mother a teacher. You didn’t grow up in poverty.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: I realized how blessed I was, because not only did I not grow up in poverty, but my daddy did not grow up in poverty. My mother, I don’t know whether you’d call it poverty, but my mother was poor and never knew she was poor. But her brothers all quit school by fourth or fifth grade, to send her to get a teaching certificate, and they all worked. She was the baby girl. They all worked for her to get a college education. My daddy’s father was a businessman in Franklin, Louisiana, and he had four million dollars in a bank account, about 1916. Before the First World War. And I’ve tried to find out how that happened, and the closest I can get to it is that he was a man that everybody respected. He managed the money for burial societies, Masonic organizations, and because he was trustworthy, almost everybody in Louisiana, every organization in Louisiana, banked in Franklin, Louisiana. And he sort of managed their accounts. He was a businessman and an accountant.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Your father had a dental office, but as a young man you traveled with him to some rural communities, too. Was he working as a dentist there?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Yeah, he was working as a dentist, because during the Depression, all the doctors and dentists were broke. Huey Long, the Governor of Louisiana, came up with the idea of — it was really one of the first public health projects. So he bought trailers that were mobile dental offices. And my father’s job, for most of my young life, was to drive from parish to parish in Louisiana. He’d plug in at the parish courthouse, and the county nurse or the parish nurse would line up all of the black children and they would come through and he would clean their teeth. It was a mobile dental clinic. There must have been a dozen or more of those going on around the state in Louisiana. And in the summertime we’d travel with him, so we got to see rural Louisiana. And we had relatives. Because we couldn’t stay in hotels, we always stayed in people’s homes. And so the people who had the nicest home — the school principal, the preachers, the undertakers — and it was actually a way of middle class survival. You never turned anybody away. Anybody could come in, spend the night, and count on a bed and a meal.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Did you get your first real taste of discrimination traveling with your dad to these small towns, outside of the New Orleans area?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Yeah, but you know, I really never paid any attention to it. Because for me, since four years old, racism was a sickness. And I knew how to steer clear of sick people. I could sense when people were uncomfortable, and I went out of my way to make them comfortable. When I got in the Civil Rights Movement, I was so comfortable and gracious with white people that some of the guys called me an Uncle Tom. And Dr. King always sent me to do the negotiations.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Why was that?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Because I was good at it. I never got upset and I never argued back. Later on, I read psychology and psychiatry. My father kind of had me as a junior analyst by the time I was six. He said, “You can read people. You can see when they’re uncomfortable. You can see when they’re threatened. You can see when they want to fight.” And he said, “You have a choice, and it’s your choice. You can walk away. But if you fight, hit hard and hit fast. It’s better if you can find a way to put them at ease and avoid a fight.” See. And in a mixed neighborhood — Irish, Italian, German, black, Creole — and then going to poor black schools where everybody was black, it was dealing with confrontation every day. To survive, you had to learn to disarm your opponents.</p> <p class="inputText">I tell the story about, you know, nobody liked school lunch. I always had a little extra money because I had a newspaper route or sold magazines — before your time — <i>Collier’s</i> and <i>Liberty</i> magazine. I had a newspaper route that I delivered <i>The Pittsburgh Courier</i> and <i>The Louisiana Weekly</i>. So I always had money. And to keep the bullies from taking my money, I realized I had to get it organized. So I don’t know how old I was when I started, but I used to get everybody, I said, “Look. Let’s see how much money we’ve got.’ And I always had the most, but everybody had a few pennies. And we’d put it all together and then, to avoid eating in the lunchroom, we’d go across the street to the grocery store and we could buy a nickel’s worth of bologna and a nickel’s worth of cheese. You could get a loaf of bread for ten, 11 cents. And you could get a big RC Cola, and if we had enough, you could get a big chocolate marshmallow moon pie for a nickel. See? And so we could scrape up 35 cents or so, and then everybody would have lunch together. Now I believe that’s a metaphor for all over the world, that you’ve got to feed the hungry, and people resent you when you have too much to eat and they have nothing. And it’s easier to share. It’s the only way to keep peace. So I think those are lessons that I learned in public schools. They called my public school “the bucket of blood.” And it’s why I’ve always fought to send my kids to the public schools. All of my children went to the public schools. Now they want to send their children to private schools. But my private school friends, and their private school friends, I don’t think got that kind of rough-and-tumble adjustment training that I got going to Valena C. Jones School in Louisiana.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Who was your childhood hero?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: My childhood hero was, of course, Jesse Owens. I always thought I could run faster than anybody in the neighborhood, and I could. But then, Ralph Metcalfe — who was second to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics — was the track coach at Xavier University and he was one of my father’s patients. My father — Louis Armstrong was one of his patients, and a lot of the old blues singers and a lot of the prizefighters in New Orleans — and my father’s dental office was in our house. The first two rooms of the house were living room and dining room, but during the week he used it as his waiting room for his office. So I met all kinds of people. He was active in the NAACP, so I met people like Paul Robeson and Walter White. I don’t remember meeting W.E.B. Du Bois, but Langston Hughes, Marion Anderson. All of the great black people of the time came through New Orleans. And New Orleans had a pretty solid middle class. It was part of that French colonial heritage. It was mixed up. Half of it was Creole and half of it was black. But it didn’t make any difference much in my family, because my mother was Creole and my father would have been considered more black then. But I was taught that really race doesn’t matter. That’s the way God created the world and we have to learn to appreciate what God gave us.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Your parents put a lot of emphasis on religion, education and work, didn’t they?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Well, we went to church every time the church door opened. And Dillard University, where they went to school, and which was then Straight College, was a religious school. They understood that they were educated because of the sacrifices of Christian missionaries. So my grandmother, who was born Catholic, became a Congregationalist, the United Church of Christ, because of the school, because she wanted her children to get an education. But she’d always say, “Them to whom much has been given, of them will much be required.” So it was just expected that God does not waste blessings, and if you got all these blessings, you better do something with them, boy!</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Let’s talk about your grandmother. You used to read to her after she went blind. Was there a lesson that she taught you that resonates today?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Her lesson all the time was “To them to whom much has been given, of them will much be required.” But she also gave me a faith in life that made me not fear death. And when she lost her sight, she was about 80, and she died at about 87, 88. So for those — that was between like six and 14 — my job every day was to read the newspaper and the Bible. And I say that’s where I got my education. She used to pray every day to die. She felt certain that there was life beyond this life, and that she had done — she had five children, but she raised 11. I had all kinds of aunts and uncles that were no blood relationship. But she was the kind of woman that just took care of the neighborhood. It was during the Depression, and we lived not far from the railroad track. We used to call them “hobos” then, homeless, and they would always come by and they’d say, “Somebody said… Is this where that colored woman lives that will give anybody something to eat?” And that’s the way they referred to her. I’d say, “Yeah, you’re talking about my grandmother.” So I’d go get my grandmother, and she’d fix them something to eat.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>White? Black? Any color?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Any color. Color was no problem.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>When did you first feel a religious calling? Or did you always feel God’s presence in your life?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: I think I was constantly reminded of it. But I didn’t take it seriously until I finished college. There were two things that happened to me toward the end of my college career. One, I was goofing off, and I was almost not graduating. I was lifeguard at a swimming pool, and a kid came in and almost drowned. He was an older fellow. When we pulled him up, he reminded me that he and I had gotten put out of school together in third grade. And I said, “Well, where have you been?” And he said, “I’ve been in and out of every jail in Louisiana, including Angola Penitentiary.” And it was obvious to me that he was tough, and smarter than I was. And when he said, “What are you doing?” and I said, “Well, I’m trying to decide whether I’m going to quit school and go to the army,” or “I know I don’t want to be a dentist, but I don’t know what I want to do with my life.” And he just cussed me out and said, “Look, if I’d had the opportunities you have…” and he didn’t have to tell me. But I realized that there but for the grace of God go I. And I went back to school and I managed to suck it up and graduate.</p> <p class="inputText">On the way back from Howard University, in the days of segregation, we couldn’t live in hotels and motels, so we stopped at Kings Mountain, North Carolina, where there was a church conference going on. My parents were members of the church, and I wasn’t interested in the church, but I’d been on the track team and swimming team and I thought I was an athlete. So while they went to the meetings, I went out running. And I literally ran to the top of this mountain, and pushed myself to total exhaustion. I could hardly breathe, and when I looked up, I took off my shirt and put it on a rock, because I was wringing wet, and I looked out at the horizon and it just hit me that everything out here has a purpose. Everything is there for a reason. God could not have created all of this and there not be a reason for me. And I came down that mountain with just a sense of peace that there must be some purpose for my life, and I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to find it, and I’m going to follow it, one day at a time. And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 60 years.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>Tell us about your experience at Camp Mack in Indiana. Is that where you learned about Gandhi and the theory of nonviolence?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: It was after I came down from that mountain, with that somewhat religious experience. I graduated from college very young, I was just 19, but my pastor had graduated from Yale Divinity School, and he was just 25. He asked me to drive with him to a church conference over in Texas, because he had never lived in the South and he was really kind of scared to drive around the South. But it turned out to be a good trip for me. I went because I thought he was going near San Antonio, and that’s where my roommate from Howard University was. So I figured I’d drop him off at the church conference and I’d go see my roommate. But even though it was a close town, it was almost 200 miles. And we had not seen a single black person since we left Houston. When we got to the conference, we were the only two black people there. This was up in the panhandle of Texas. And he said, “You’re not going to leave me here by myself, are you?” And I said, “No, I’ll stick around.”</p> <p class="inputText">It was a week with mostly white kids from the University of Texas and Abilene Christian College, and all the colleges around. But the thing was, all of these kids were there in spite of the fact that they would say that, “If my parents knew that I was in a conference with black people, my father would disown me.” And I had never met white people who took their Christianity seriously enough to challenge their parents’ views. So it was fascinating. When we left there, they were trying to get volunteers to do a national youth program. There was nobody else black, and they asked me if I’d volunteer and I did. They sent me to Camp Mack in Indiana, which was a Church of the Brethren college camp. And the Church of the Brethren is one of the historic peace churches, along with the Mennonites and Quakers. And the first day I was there, a young man by the name of Tom Bowman asked me had I ever read anything about Gandhi. I said no, I hadn’t, and he gave me a little book, <i>Nehru on Gandhi</i>. The only other black person at that conference was Eduardo Mondlane from Mozambique, who ended up going back to Mozambique, starting the liberation struggle there, FRELIMO. But when we talked about Gandhi’s nonviolence there, his view was, “This will certainly work for us in Mozambique.” And I was very skeptical. I said, “I don’t know that this will work in the American South.” Well, it was just the opposite. When he started his demonstrations, the Portuguese machine-gunned them, and that pushed them into violence. We were able to gradually evolve into a fairly independent, aggressive, nonviolent movement, and we were able to bring the communities along with us. So the amazing thing about our civil rights movement was not that people got killed, but that so few of us got killed.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>So after being exposed to the wisdom of Gandhi, where did you go next?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: After Camp Mack they assigned me to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Council of Churches was supposed to provide me with a place to stay. But when I went, they had not arranged it, so they called the Hartford Seminary Foundation and asked if they had a guest room I could stay in. So they sent me to live at the seminary. I didn’t know a lot about the Bible, but I liked the people there. This was right after the Second World War, so a lot of the men coming back were veterans. They weren’t pious or self-righteous, or what I expected of preachers. They defied every stereotype. I went into the dean’s office one day and said, “I’m on this campus as a visitor for a few months, but is it all right for me to sit in some of the courses?” And he said, “If you’ll sit in three courses, I can give you a scholarship.” So I said, “Well, that would be fine.”</p> <p class="inputText"><b>How did you meet your wife, Jean?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Actually, that summer, my father and I had a real — the only time he ever got angry with me was when I told him I was not going to be a dentist. And even though he was very religious and a very big member of the church, and a tither, and always giving extra, he said he would not support me. He said, “All of the preachers I know are either poor or crooked, and I’ll have nothing to do with that.” Well, I learned later on that his father didn’t want him to be a dentist. His father wanted him to be a businessman. His father refused to pay for his dental school. And what happened to him was, he was a much better student when he paid for his own way. So in a way, he was saying that, “If you want to do this, you got to do it on your own.” So I had been away from home and didn’t go home for Christmas or Thanksgiving for over a year. So my mother was anxious to have me come back South. I had a job in New York and was planning to run with the Pioneer Track Club to try out for the Olympics in 1952. But that summer, they called me and asked me to come to Marion, Alabama. I’d never heard of Marion, Alabama, and I didn’t want any parts of Alabama. My life was planned, but the thing that I always said was that if God had something for me to do, it would be something that nobody else would do. And everybody wanted to go to the Olympics, everybody wanted to be in New York. But nobody would go to Marion, Alabama but me. So I figured I was going to Marion, Alabama. Now when I got there, as soon as I walked in the first home, I realized that God sent me there to have a wife. Because there was a Bible on the table that had been underlined. And there was a senior lifesaving certificate on the wall, and there were not many black women who were good swimmers. And there was a basketball letter, and I said, “Who’s this belong to?” And she said, “This is my baby daughter.” “Well, where is she?” “She’s away in school at Manchester College.” Well, Manchester College is a Church of the Brethren college that I knew about because of Camp Mack. And I figured that, I always say that coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. I figured that God had put me in this trick because I was supposed to marry this woman.</p> <p class="inputText">And I believe it to this day. I decided, even before I met her, and I before I saw her, that this was going to be my wife. Now the irony of it is that another little girl that went to high school with her was Coretta Scott, who married Martin Luther King. And a little further down in the county, in Union Town, was another little girl who was Juanita Jones, who became Anita Abernathy. So all three of us — who did not know each other — ended up marrying women from this same little county. And it was this same little county that brought us back to Selma, and led to the march from Selma to Montgomery, when Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed there. And when we were going to Marion, Alabama with Martin Luther King, years later, there was a normal road to go and we had heard from the Justice Department that they were planning to ambush Dr. King and kill him on that road to Selma. And he was going to go anyway. And because I had been there as the pastor, and had married a wife from there, and he had too, we knew the back roads. We went the back roads and went to my mother-in-law’s house and she fixed breakfast — I mean fixed lunch for us. So all of my life has seemed to be like a jigsaw puzzle, that if I look carefully at the pieces I’ll see how they fit. But that it’s — I don’t know that it’s preordained, but if I make the right choices, the right things happen.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>So did you propose to her when you first met?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: I didn’t propose yet, because she was determined she was not going to marry a preacher. As was Coretta King. Neither one of them. Preachers had a kind of bad reputation in those days, I guess. At least, they were usually poor. We were both short. You know, you get better looking when you get prominent. But when you’re a 20-year-old kid in blue jeans and a t-shirt, who would want to be hooked with that for the rest of her life?</p> <p class="inputText"><b>It sounds like it took a while to convince Jean to marry you.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: It took a while. She got a scholarship to go to Europe the next summer, to work in a work camp in Austria. And I was determined I was going to marry her. I had been working. I had four jobs: I was a janitor in an apartment building, I was washing dishes, I worked in a bookstore, and I worked with the youth group in a church. So I had more money than I’d ever had before in my life, and I saved enough to pay my own way to Europe. But back then, I think the whole boat trip — it was a student boat, going to help rebuild Europe after the war — and I think the round trip fare was something like $240, and I had about $300. So I went to Europe with her, but she wouldn’t go in the same — she said, “No, they’re paying my way here because they want people to have an experience with black people. So we shouldn’t go to the same conference. We shouldn’t go to the same work camp.” So we didn’t. She went to work in Linz, Austria, and I was in Ried, Austria. She was working with children, I was building a refugee center. We hitchhiked around Europe. And her sister was working with the YMCA in Berlin, so we got on the train and went behind the Iron Curtain in the days when, you got to the border to get to Berlin, they actually put iron curtains up on the windows so you couldn’t see. So we went to spend a week with her, and then we kind of hitchhiked around Europe. And then, in the work camp that I was in, there were students from 14 different countries, and the same was true in the work camp that she was in. So we had an international orientation, living for four weeks with students from all over Europe.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>That sounds like a great experience.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: It’s what I say, again. You can’t plan that.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>What advice would you like to leave, so that 50 years from now, your great-grandchildren can learn a lesson from your life and journey?</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: It’s really very simple. Everything I did, and I think everything Martin Luther King did, was because we allowed our lives to be in tune with what we felt to be a divine purpose. And it didn’t matter whether we lived or died. It didn’t matter how much money we made, or what we accomplished. If we were following the will of God, miracles would be wrought. And they don’t have to be in politics, you know, they could be in science, they could be in economics. Right now, I hope this doesn’t take 50 years, but we have to reposition America’s economy to be a global leader in a global economy. You can actually, I can transfer more money around the world with my cell phone than existed in the United States 50 years ago. So we’ve had an explosion of technology which has made us increasingly aware of the needs of the world. We really have more money than we know what to do with. There’s more money in hiding in tax havens right now than is in circulation in the U.S., Europe and China economies, all put together. So we’ve got to find a way to create a global economic order, that I think only the United States can lead, out of the same vision and dream that Martin Luther King expressed 50 years ago. I think 50 years from now we should have accomplished that, but there will still be something. We will probably be trying to figure out what’s under the sea, or we will know how to go further in space. But the future is limitless, and we’re only limited by our own fears and insecurities. And with faith in God, and faith in the freedoms and ideals that we have been taught by our ancestors, all things are possible. Only believe. Jesse Jackson used to say that if you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it. I like that.</p> <p class="inputText"><b>We like it too. Thank you so much.</b></p> <p class="inputText">Andrew Young: Okay, thank you.</p> </body></html> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Andrew J. Young Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>21 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992.jpg" data-image-caption="Reverend Andrew Young, Executive Vice President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, announces his candidacy for Congress. Young ran in Georgia's 5th District, which includes the city of Atlanta and most of Fulton County. He is seated with Coretta Scott King, his wife, Jean, and Georgia State Representative Julian Bond. Mrs. King and Mrs. Young had known each other since high school. Young lost his first race for Congress in 1970, but came back and won the seat two years later. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1661992-760x515.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4872798434442" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900.jpg" data-image-caption="In the cold and rain, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young lead African American citizens to the county courthouse in Selma, Alabama. The struggle to register black voters in Selma was one of the hardest-fought episodes in the Civil Rights Movement, but it led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Martin Luther King Jr. and Others Walking Together" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1461900-511x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65921052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12.jpg" data-image-caption="The Rev. Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, at a 1964 press conference. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12-380x250.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1446395-12-760x501.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99342105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta, in December 1964. They are preparing to depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpressKing Coretta AP 641204069" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069-380x377.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpressKing-Coretta-AP-641204069-760x755.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1278195488722" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy.jpg" data-image-caption="Andrew Young and his wife, Jean Childs Young (1933-1994). "It was only with her help that I did everything," Andrew Young says. "If Martin and I had not married the little country girls we married from Alabama, you never would have heard our names." (City of Atlanta)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-jean and andy" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy-337x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-jean-and-andy.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3.jpg" data-image-caption="The surviving leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, close the lid of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s coffin after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty3-760x605.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2.jpg" data-image-caption="Andrew Young and others point Memphis police in the direction of the shot that felled Martin Luther King, Jr. The wounded civil rights leader is still lying where he fell. (Photo by Joseph Louw/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-Getty2" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2-380x255.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty2-760x510.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80921052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1.jpg" data-image-caption="April 4, 1968: Memphis police join Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Martin Luther King, Jr. lies unconscious at their feet, felled by an assassin's bullet. He never regained consciousness. (Photo by Joseph Louw/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-Getty1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1-380x308.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Getty1-760x615.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE047067.jpg" data-image-caption="Four days after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, his family, friends, and 10,000 other mourners join for a memorial march in Memphis, Tennessee. In the front row, from left to right, are Harry Belafonte, King's daughter Yolanda, his sons Martin III and Dexter, his widow Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young and Rabbi Abraham Heschel. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Memorial March for Dr. Martin Luther King" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE047067-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE047067-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75657894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE034592.jpg" data-image-caption="American sprinter Jesse Owens (1913-1980) made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, much to the annoyance of Adolf Hitler. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE034592-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE034592-760x575.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.62236842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066.jpg" data-image-caption="Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, announces his candidacy for Governor of Georgia, with his wife, Jean, at his side. Young lost the state's Democratic primary in 1990, but continued his advocacy outside of the political process. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Portrait of Mayor Andy Young" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066-380x237.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-BE002066-760x473.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP843560128647.jpg" data-image-caption="August 28, 1963: Civil rights demonstrators gather at the Washington Monument before marching to the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King, Jr. will deliver his most famous speech. (AP Photo, File)" data-image-copyright="March on Washington" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP843560128647-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP843560128647-760x506.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756.jpg" data-image-caption="The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. The crowd included a host of celebrated public figures, as well as thousands of ordinary men and women, marching for "Jobs and Freedom." A few seats to the right of Dr. King is gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. King was ready to conclude his timed remarks when Jackson exhorted him to "tell them about the Dream." Dr. King's speech that day has become one of the most cherished orations in American history. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="Martin Luther King Jr." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP163454619756-760x506.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5734989648033" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829.jpg" data-image-caption="Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at the 2011 dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (AP Images/Cliff Owen)" data-image-copyright="Andrew Young" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829-241x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP111016022829-483x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2837837837838" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031.jpg" data-image-caption="An aerial view of the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the historic 1963 March on Washington. (AP Images) " data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031-296x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP070419010031-592x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208.jpg" data-image-caption="January 30, 1977: Andrew Young takes office as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter look on as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall administers the oath of office. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208-380x265.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP7701310208-760x529.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4503816793893" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. greets the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963. His speech that day -- with its memorable refrain of "I Have a Dream..." -- lifted the Civil Rights Movement from a regional campaign for the rights of a minority to a global struggle for universal human rights. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="KING" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013-262x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-AP630828013-524x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314.jpg" data-image-caption="Activist and family man, Andrew Young observes the Poor People's Campaign Solidarity Day at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., June 1968. Marchers had walked to the capital from Quitman County, Mississippi, the poorest county in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had planned the campaign, had been murdered only two months before. (© William James Warren/Science Faction/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Andrew Young with Kids" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-23875314-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-15907222.jpg" data-image-caption="Andrew Young in 1978, while he was serving as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. (© William Coupon/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-15907222-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-42-15907222-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.61184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP.jpg" data-image-caption="The fastest men alive: Jesse Owens (1913-1980) and Ralph Metcalfe (1910-1978) dominated track and field events at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens and Metcalfe were boyhood heroes to Andrew Young. In the 1970s, Metcalfe and Young served in the U.S. Congress together. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Portrait of Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalf Standing Arm in Arm" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP-380x233.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-2-U779084INP-760x465.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99736842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049.jpg" data-image-caption="The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. turns to answer a question from his seat in Geneva, May 28, 1967, as delegate to "Pacem In Terris II" unofficial conference on problems of peace, convoked by U.S. Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. At left is his aide, Andrew Young of Atlanta, Georgia. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="MLK In Geneva" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress-AP_670528049-760x758.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i 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Carter Brown</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/linda-buck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linda B. Buck, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-burnett/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Burnett</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-h-w-bush/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George H. W. Bush</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/susan-butcher/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Susan Butcher</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-michael-caine/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Michael Caine</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-cameron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Cameron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-s-carson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jennifer-a-doudna-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/peter-gabriel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peter Gabriel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. 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Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony D. Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235427/https://achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. 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