ATLANTA — WSB is celebrating Black History Month through stories about people in our community who are making a difference.
Channel 2′s Karyn Greer spoke with Ambassador Andrew Young about his most memorable moments of the civil rights movement.
“I enjoyed the civil rights movement,” Young said.
He was a confidante of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a key strategist for the cause.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Young studied Gandhi’s concept of nonviolent resistance but was the target of violence himself.
“I think my proudest moment is getting beat up in Saint Augustine, you know, because I... I had to stand up to 200 klansmen that night and not back down,” Young said.
That attack on Young happened during the same period when Congress was debating the Civil Rights Act.
Young helped draft the act and it would later go on to pass.
“That was what the movement was all about. You focused on something that was unjust until the system cracked,” Young said.
After his work with Dr. King and being a pioneer of the Civil Rights movement, Young entered the world of politics.
In 1972, he became the first Black Congressman from Georgia since reconstruction.
Then in 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
He was the first Black man to hold the position.
Young went on to serve two terms as Atlanta’s mayor.
“When people say Andrew Young, what do you want them to think about first at the top of their mind about you?” Greer asked him.
“Just another child of God. Trying to make it over. And who was blessed from the time I came from my mother’s womb,” he responded.
Young is also a champion of change through his work with nonprofits, including the Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA in Southwest Atlanta and the Andrew Young Foundation.
[MORE BLACK HISTORY MONTH STORIES]
©2025 Cox Media Group
