Young, Andrew (1932–)

A politician, civil rights leader, and ordained minister who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1972 to 1976; ambassador to the United Nations from 1977 to 1979; mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, for two consecutive terms from 1981 to 1989; and president of the National Council of Churches in 2000 and 2001.

Andrew Jackson Young Jr. was born on March 12, 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reared in a middle-class black family, Young entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., as a premed student, but later turned to the ministry. In 1955, he graduated from Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, with a divinity degree. As a pastor of several Southern black churches, Young became involved in the civil rights movement and later worked with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Young resigned from SCLC in 1970 to run for the U.S. Congress. He lost the election but ran again in 1972 and won, becoming the first black U.S. representative from Georgia since the Reconstruction era. As a representative, he became known for opposing cuts in funds for social programs.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. During his tenure in that post, he was known to sympathize with the needs of Third World countries. Young was forced to resign from his post as U.N. ambassador in 1979 when it became known that he had met with a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Two years later, in 1981, Young was elected mayor of Atlanta, a position that he held until 1989.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Young as chairman of the Southern Africa Enterprise Fund, a privately managed $100 million fund that helps provide capital to businesses in eleven African countries. In recent years, Young has also served as chairman of GoodWorks International, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that provides services to corporations and companies operating in the global economy.

A professor at Georgia State University in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Young is also on the board of directors of numerous businesses and organizations. A recipient of more than forty-five honorary degrees, Young also serves on the board of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.