Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at ASU - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at ASU

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ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

Former Atlanta mayor, Congressman, and UN Ambassador Andrew Young is in Albany today, to lead a discussion of issues facing the nation at Albany State University.

ASU will host "America On My Mind: A Conversation with Ambassador Andrew Young", starting at 1:00 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the ACAD Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Young was a Civil Rights leader who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to galvanize a movement that transformed the nation. 

Young was a key strategist and negotiator during the Civil Rights Campaigns in Birmingham and Selma that resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The ordained minister is best known for his work in civil and human rights; the years spent in public office as a congressman, Atlanta's mayor, a United Nations Ambassador, leader of the Atlanta Olympic Games and an advocate for investment in Africa.

In 1972, Young became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. He served on the Banking and Urban Affairs and Rules Committees.

His support for Jimmy Carter helped to win the Democratic Party nomination and election to the Presidency. In 1977, President Carter appointed him the nation's first African-American Ambassador to the United Nations.

As mayor of Atlanta, during a recession when federal funds to cities decreased, Young turned to international markets for investments which attracted 1100 new businesses, $70 billion in investments and 1 million jobs to the region. He spearheaded the effort to bring the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta and oversaw the largest Olympic Games in history.

President Jimmy Carter awarded the ambassador the Presidential Medal of Freedom and President William J. Clinton appointed him the founding chair of the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund.

He is the author of three books: A Way Out of No Way, An Easy Burden and Walk in My Shoes. The Andrew Young Foundation was established to document, preserve and interpret Young's legacy. 

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