Ambassador Andrew Young Offers Students Civil Rights Lesson, Context for Current Affairs

November 25, 2024

Contact: Thonnia Lee, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing

*TU President Dr Mark Brown shakes hands with Ambassador Andrew Young.*

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, an ordained minister, Civil Rights legend, and former mayor of Atlanta, told an auditorium of Tuskegee students how he found his way into the movement.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity to sit in the presence of someone who walked the road with civil rights leaders of our time and allowed us the opportunity to vote, the opportunity to participate in democracy,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, President and CEO. “He is one of the few folks who did it as Ambassador, mayor, legal authority and scholar. For him to sit with us is an honor.”

Ambassador Young said he wound up in Tuskegee initially because his vet told him the best place to treat his dog was the TU Vet hospital. It gave him an opportunity to visit another civil rights leader, minister and Tuskegee resident, Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

“I feel like I’m coming home,” Young said. “Most of my growing up was along Highway 80, I was following LaFayette.”

He walked through how Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. pressured former President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion or sex, and helped to eliminate voting discrimination against African Americans.

He kindly took questions from students and faculty. One question acknowledged Friday was the anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“The tragedies and even more critical was Martin’s assassination,” he said. “I was sure that was the end of the civil rights movement. The night before we went to Memphis, everybody generally agreed we had to move the energy of the movement. You shouldn’t have to march with 1,000 people to get better books or get streetlights changed.”

From there the movement moved into politics where despite initial protests, Ambassador Young ran and won a congressional seat representing Georgia.

When asked about how the civil rights movement differs from today, he joked that things are different and his inability to use his cell phone is just one example. “I am depending on your generation,” he said.

He also reminded the students of the importance of the history of Tuskegee and the reputation of the Tuskegee Airmen and George Washington Carver. “I don’t want you to forget about that. I really believe the future is in very good hands.”