In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Jackson State University today hosted Andrew Young, one of King's closest advisers during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Young 77, has a long career of public service, including terms as a U.S. Congressman from Georgia and as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter. Young was with King on the night of his assassination, April 4, 1968, in Memphis.
"It didn't put a stop to what we were trying to do," Young said to the JSU audience today of King's death.
Born in 1932 in New Orleans, Young attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., with the intention of following his father into dentistry. He switched directions, however, after being called to ministry. In 1960, he joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, becoming the group's executive director in 1964. That role put him in close contact with King, with whom he led campaigns in Birmingham and Selma.
Young first won election to the U.S. Congress in 1972 and served until 1977 when Carter appointed him U.N. Ambassador. He resigned that post in 1979. In 1982, he was elected Mayor of Atlanta, a position he held until 1990. He still lives in Atlanta, where he is the founder and chairman of GoodWorks International, a consulting firm focusing on economic development in Africa and the Caribbean.
"The past on which our lives have been built is something that we need to remember, because it might be coming to an end," Young said about the importance of honoring the civil-rights movement.
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