THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9701250534
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACKIE R. BOOKER
LENGTH: 74 lines
AN UNEASY BURDEN
The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America
HarperCollins. 550 pp. $27.50.
Andrew Young's An Uneasy Burden covers his childhood and educational background, his marriage and family life, and describes his relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In this insightful undertaking, Young reveals more about the civil rights movement than anyone else associated with King.
Born in New Orleans in 1932, Young was the oldest of Daisy Fuller and Andrew Young Sr.'s two sons. Perhaps because of her Creole heritage, his mother assumed more responsibility during his early childhood. While his father made suggestions, his mother gave him orders and aimed him toward achievement.
Because of his advanced early education, Young began public school in the third grade and by 11 had completed the seventh grade. His mother then enrolled him in Gilbert Academy, a private institution, and Young finished high school at 15. Following in his parents' footsteps, he attended Straight College (now Dillard University) in New Orleans, but transferred to Howard University after one year. There, his grades suffered, but he graduated with a degree in biology. Often shielded from racial segregation in New Orleans by his mother, Young matured at Howard, but still disappointed his parents.
Young went to seminary school and became an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He took a number of positions, usually as the director of an interracial youth organization. One assignment in Marion, Ala., allowed him to meet Jean Childs, his future wife. They were married in 1954. She died 40 years later.
Young joined the staff of SCLC in 1961 as the principal organizer of youth programs. He also managed the citizenship schools. A talented negotiator, Young drafted desegregation details with several Southern cities. He also functioned as a moderating influence between King's conservative philosophy and the more militant voices within SCLC. Though King often asked him to stay behind and work on negotiations, Young, too, marched, and was beaten and jailed.
Young's 18-hour days and constant separation from his wife and three daughters took a toll. He hints that in his absence other men pursued his wife and one daughter became estranged. Although there were periodic reunions with his family, they tended to distance Young rather than to renew his relationships.
Addressing controversies within the movement, Young suggests that close aide Ralph Abernathy was jealous of King, his image and the media attention he received. Abernathy even demanded half of the money that King received for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. Young also denies allegations that King had sexual liaisons with several women. The rumors began shortly before King won the Nobel Prize; Young points to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI as the source.
Young's account of King's assassination is chilling. The subsequent disintegration of SCLC pointed his career in another direction. Generally satisfied that social barriers to racial equality had been eliminated, Young thought that two obstacles remained - economics and politics. He chose the latter. In 1972 he became the first black elected to Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction.
Young credits his success to his involvement in politics, his education and God. Although barriers remain, he singles out Atlanta, where he was a two-term mayor, as a model of what can be accomplished with racial harmony rather than divisiveness. He cites black and white officials working together to build a new airport and to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to the city.
An Uneasy Burden is an engaging life story, as well as a history of the civil rights movement during its critical years, 1961 to 68, and a blueprint for racial cooperation. Young would have blacks and whites sit down and negotiate differences across a table rather than demonstrate in the streets. A transforming influence during a transforming time, he has successfully done both. MEMO: Jackie R. Booker, formerly at Norfolk State University, is an
associate professor of history at South Carolina State University.