UNITED STATES: Young Describes Women's Role in Civil Rights

Through intimate stories and details, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young highlighted women's role in the Civil Rights Movement in his King Week keynote address on Tuesday.

“[Our wives] were behind us, kicking us in the behind every step of the way,” Young said. “Because every time we'd slow down, they'd find some way to push us on. And that's the part of the Civil Rights Movement that I think is virtually unknown.”

Young, also a civil rights activist and friend of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at Emory's 20th annual King Week Celebration to honor the life, work and interests of King.

An audience of approximately 50 sat raptly attentive in Cannon Chapel, eager to hear about Young's personal encounters with King.

“There was a sense of intimacy and a sense of urgency and purpose,” said Mark Sanders, chair of Emory's African American Studies Department, which organized the event. “People really are hungry for these addresses and really want to engage the people who give them.”

Young told of how his wife, Jean, and King's wife, Coretta, both came from Marion, Ala., a small town in the “wicked South.”

“[Jean's family] owned the whole block of downtown Marion: a grocery store, a candy store, a soda fountain, a shoeshop,” Young said. “In her early teens, the white community swindled her great uncle out of this property, and they ended up broke.”

Soon after, Jean's grandfather committed suicide, her father became an alcoholic and her mother was banned from teaching in the district.

“[Coretta and Jean] were really strong women,” Young said. “Before Jean even went to school she had to feed the cows and the chickens, slop the hogs, then get dressed, walk three to four miles to school, play basketball in the afternoon and come home to cook.”

Young admitted that the men of the Civil Rights Movement did not succeed merely because of their education.

“[Our success] came from the struggles and the sufferings that our wives' families had experienced,” he said.

Young also exposed a side of King that departs from the traditional “hero worship,” Sanders said.

“[King] was probably the least likely of the young Baptist preachers to amount to something,” Young said. “He was a spoiled brat in many ways.”

King came from a long line of preachers and was in a sense forced into the profession, Young said.

“[His teacher] said he was not one of the most gifted students; in fact, [the teacher] worried about him,” Young said. “But something happened to get him to Montgomery and to put him in that position.”

The former ambassador's final point examined where America currently stands in relation to King's goals.

“Martin was committed to redeeming the soul of America from the triple evils of racism, war and poverty,” he said.

While we have come a long way in the areas of racism and war, poverty is still a pervasive problem in today's society, Young said.

“But in solving any problem, [King] believed in non-violence or non-existence,” Young said. “That's why we are celebrating his birthday.”

The event was sponsored by a collaboration between the African American Studies Department, the Laney Graduate School, the Office of Community and Diversity and the Martin Luther King Holiday Observance Committee. King Week is being held from January 17-25.

Ongoing events include a “Soundtrack of Revolution” lecture and religious services held by Dr. Vincent G. Harding, professor emeritus of religion and social transformation at Iliff School of Theology, as well as a “State of Race” discussion with CNN's Soledad O'Brien