A Young History - From 1932-1968
New Orleans in the 1930's was the moderate south and Dr. and Mrs. Young provided a very protected and privileged childhood for their two sons, Andrew Jr. and Walter. But for this devout puritan Congregational family, privilege always entailed responsibility, "For them to whom much has been given, of them will much be required."
Andrew was supposed to be the dentist, but the struggle to survive in the South, the experience in segregated and overcrowded public schools, and growing up in an integrated lower class neighborhood, developed a social conscience which lead him to the Christian ministry upon graduation from Howard University in 1951 at 19 years of age.
As a student pastor in Marion, Alabama he met Jean Childs, a student at Manchester College in Indiana. Their common interest in religion, non-violence, and sports led to a summer working with refugees in Europe and marriage in 1954.
After graduating from Hartford Seminary Foundation, Jean began teaching and Andrew pastoring in Thomasville and Beachton, Georgia.
Three years in the rural south and four years in New York as youth department staff for the National Council of Churches provided a good training ground for work with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.
At Dr. King's right hand, Andrew helped to lead the movements of Albany, Birmingham, Selma, St. Augustine, Chicago, the movement against the war in Vietnam, and the Poor People's campaign of 1968.
Those efforts to "redeem the soul of America from the evils of racism, war, and poverty through non-violent action" produced the legal transformation of the South and a challenge to the Nation, but also led to Dr. King's assassination in Memphis on April 4,1968.
