Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young Jr. - Softcover

Dickerson, Dennis C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813190819 ISBN 13: 9780813190815

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2004

Synopsis

During the turbulent 1960s, civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr. devised a new and effective strategy to achieve equality for African Americans. Young blended interracial mediation with direct protest, demonstrating that these methods pursued together were the best tactics for achieving social, economic, and political change.

Militant Mediator is a powerful reassessment of this key and controversial figure in the civil rights movement. It is the first biography to explore in depth the influence Young's father, a civil rights leader in Kentucky, had on his son. Dickerson traces Young's swift rise to national prominence as a leader who could bridge the concerns of deprived blacks and powerful whites and mobilize the resources of the white America to battle the poverty and discrimination at the core of racial inequality. Alone among his civil rights colleagues―Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, John Lewis, and James Forman―Young built support from black and white constituencies.

As a National Urban League official in the Midwest and as a dean of the School of Social Work at Atlanta University during the 1940s and 1950s, Young developed a strategy of mediation and put it to work on a national level upon becoming the executive director of the League in 1961. Though he worked with powerful whites, Young also drew support from middle-and working-class blacks from religious, fraternal, civil rights, and educational organizations. As he navigated this middle ground, though, Young came under fire from both black nationalists and white conservatives.

About this title

Review:

Although he has not been as well remembered as Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, Whitney M. Young Jr. was one of the most effective leaders of the civil rights era. He spent years as an official in the National Urban League before being named its executive director in 1961; from that position, he was able to get the attention of the White House and some of the most powerful corporations in America.

Young's genius was to convince white America that its own best interests could be served by providing for the betterment of life of black Americans, particularly on the economic level. He was particularly adept at persuading the establishment that it would be much simpler to deal with the moderate, integrationist National Urban League than to face the increasingly vocal activist groups. Although some black leaders accused him of selling out, to the extent that one newspaper headline provocatively asked, "Whitney Young: Black Leader or 'Oreo Cookie'?," Dennis C. Dickerson's thoughtful portrait shows that Young did his best to always ensure that black interests were adequately dealt with.

Dickerson is particularly strong in his examination of the Urban League's programs for inner-city renewal and Young's outreach to corporate philanthropists. Readers who have been fascinated by the sweeping panorama of Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire will find much to enjoy in this close-up look at one of MLK's most significant contemporaries.

From the Back Cover:

During the turbulent 1960s, civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr. devised a new and effective strategy for achieving equality for African Americans. Young blended interracial mediation with direct protest, demonstrating that these methods pursued together were the best tactics for achieving social, economic, and political change. Alone among his civil rights colleagues - Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, John Lewis, and James Forman - Young built support for integration from both black and white constituencies. As a National Urban League official in the Midwest and as dean of the School of Social Work at Atlanta University during the 1940s and 1950s, Young developed a strategy of mediation and put it to work on a national level upon becoming the executive director of the League in 1961. In this position, Young forcefully alerted elite whites to the urgency of the black struggle for equality and encouraged them to spend federal, corporate, and foundation funds to improve the lives of black residents in the nation's inner cities. Dickerson traces Young's swift rise to national prominence as a leader who could bridge the concerns of deprived blacks and powerful whites and mobilize the resources of white America to battle the poverty and discrimination at the core of racial inequality.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0813190819
• ISBN 13: 9780813190815
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416