Civil Rights icon Andrew Young returns to south Georgia city where he first became pastor

August 8th, 2024

Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at a press conference on the steps of Atlanta City Hall in support of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center on April 19, 2023 (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Civil Rights icon Andrew Young — a former ambassador, congressman, Atlanta mayor and member of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle, is coming home to the south Georgia city where he first became a pastor in 1955.

Young was billed as the star guest at Thursday evening’s opening of a traveling exhibit, the aptly called “The Many Lives of Andrew Young,” in Thomasville. The event will be held at an arts center not far from Bethany Congregational Church, the historic church where he became pastor before joining King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The exhibit, created by the National Monuments Foundation, chronicles Young’s life through photographs, memorabilia and his own words. It’s based on a book of the same name by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ernie Suggs.

Young also served as a pastor in neighboring Grady County before joining the SCLC. While working with King, Young helped organize civil rights marches in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama, and in St. Augustine, Florida. He was with King when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

In 1972, Young was elected to the U.S. House from Georgia’s 5th District, becoming the first black Georgian sent to Congress since Reconstruction. He served as the United Nations ambassador under President Jimmy Carter and was the Atlanta mayor from 1982 to 1990.