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Andrew Young

Andrew Young became the first African American to be elected to Congress from the South since Reconstruction in 1972. He represented the fifth Congressional District in Georgia. Young graduated from Howard University in 1951. The New Orleans native was ordained as a minister in 1955. He joined Dr. Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1961.

Andy Young eventually became SCLC’s Executive Director. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Young was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1982 and served two terms. As co-Chaiman of the Atlanta Committee for the Centennial Olympic Games, he was one of the key players responsible for bringing the Olympics to Atlanta in 1996.