[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 72 (Friday, May 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN CELEBRATION OF THE 80TH BIRTHDAY OF AMBASSADOR ANDREW JACKSON YOUNG, 
                                  JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 18, 2012

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dear 
friend and a great man, Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. Shakespeare once said 
that: ``All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely 
players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his 
time plays many parts . . . .'' Ambassador Andrew Young has played many 
parts in his lifetime including the roles of minister, civil rights 
activist, Congressman, Ambassador, Mayor and humanitarian.
  Ambassador Young will be honored with an 80th birthday celebration on 
May 20, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia. This event will be a celebration of 
Ambassador Young's life and his dedication to uplifting humankind.
  Ambassador Young was born on March 12, 1932, to the union of Andrew 
Jackson Young, Sr., and Daisy Fuller Young. His father was a dentist 
and his mother was a school teacher.
  Ambassador Young attended Dillard University in 1947 for one year 
before transferring to Howard University where he received his Bachelor 
of Science and pre-med degree in 1951. After graduating from Howard, 
Ambassador Young originally wanted to follow in his father's footsteps 
and pursue a career in dentistry. However, a greater calling was in 
store for him and he entered the ministry. He received a Bachelor of 
Divinity Degree from Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, 
Connecticut in 1955.
  It was while at Hartford Seminary that Ambassador Young was exposed 
to the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi. He became enamored with Gandhi's 
philosophy of non-violent social change. Later, while serving as pastor 
of a church in Thomasville, Georgia, Ambassador Young met a young 
Baptist preacher from Atlanta by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr. at an Alpha Phi Alpha program at Talladega College.
  In 1960, Ambassador Young joined the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference. He moved to Atlanta in 1961 and worked vigorously on voter 
registration drives. He was a gifted strategist who played a great role 
in organizing various civil rights campaigns in the 1960s. As we all 
know, these campaigns resulted in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights 
Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Ambassador Young was with Dr. King 
on that tragic day in Memphis when he was assassinated.
  Ambassador Young used his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement to 
fuel his later endeavors. He was Georgia's first African American to be 
elected to the Congress since Reconstruction. Additionally, in 1977, 
President Jimmy Carter appointed him as the First African American 
United Nations Ambassador.
  In 1981, Ambassador Young ran for and was elected Mayor of the city 
of Atlanta. He served two terms in this post, pushing many initiatives 
that still have his stamp on them today.
  Additionally, in 1996, he served as the Co-Chair of the Committee 
that was successful in bringing the Olympic Games to his beloved city 
of Atlanta.
  Ambassador Young has always had a humanitarian spirit and in 1996, 
along with Carlton Masters, he founded Good Works International, a 
consulting firm that promotes investment in Africa and the Caribbean. 
Ambassador Young has used this tool to continue his advocacy for civil 
and human rights around the world.
  Dr. King once said, ``Life's most urgent and persistent question is: 
What are you doing to help others?'' Mr. Speaker, I ask that my 
colleagues join me in paying tribute to Ambassador Andrew Jackson 
Young, Jr. for his lifelong legacy of helping others. My wife, Vivian, 
and I commend him for his service and thank his family for sharing him 
with the world for the betterment of humankind. As I stated earlier, 
Ambassador Young has played many rotes during the course of his life. 
And as the reviews come on the stage of history, there can be no doubt 
that Andrew Young has been stellar in each and every one.

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