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Exploring Religion
A handsome black man and his family walked up the steps of the Community Unitarian Church on that beautiful Sunday, September 16,1962.
"My name is Whitney Young," he said to the welcoming committee, "And this is my wife, Margaret, and my daughter Lauren, who is in the fourth grade, and Marcia, who is sixteen." From that Sunday on, the Youngs were members of the Church Family.
Whitney Young had come from Atlanta, where he served as Dean of The School of Social Work at Atlanta University, to be the Executive Director of the National Urban League. One of the reasons he felt at home at the White Plains Community Unitarian Church was because, as early as 1915, a church committee, studying the problem of poverty in the city, saw the development of segregated slum areas and inequalities in White Plains, and members of the church founded the Negro Welfare League which became the Urban League of White Plains, and finally of Westchester County. (The Day Care Association, the Council of Community Services and a Negro Girl Scout Troop were also initiated by people in the Church.)
Who was Whitney Young? He was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky. His father, Whitney Moore Young, Senior, was a teacher (and later became the first Negro President) at Lincoln Institute, a whiterun school for Negroes. His mother was a commissioned Postmistress (the first black to have this position in the United States).
But even with such remarkable parents, Whitney Jr. met discrimination. He could not eat in downtown Louisville restaurants and he had to sit in the hot balcony in motion picture theaters.
"It's not fair," Whitney exclaimed.
"No, it's NOT fair," said his father, "but that's the law. Segregation is what they call it."
"That's a crazy law," his sister Eleanor burst out.
Mr. Young smiled at her and Junior. "Well," he said, "laws are made by people, and people can change laws. When you children are old enough to vote, you can help change the unjust laws."
"We will!" said Whitney Junior.
Mr. Young liked to tell the children how he had given up a fine job to go to Lincoln Institute, only to find he was little more than a janitor there. How he had set up classes in the skills of repair maintenance and had become one of the most respected members of the faculty.
"Don't get angry. Get smart," he always ended this story and Whitney Junior learned that lesson well - so well that later in life he helped thousands of his black brothers and sisters get jobs instead of riots.
Whitney learned another lesson from his father. When he waseleven, he entered Lincoln institute High School, and by the time he was a Senior, he had made the basketball team. Returning from their biggest game as winners, the exuberant team stopped at a roadside restaurant for dinner.
"Around to the back," said the white owner. "No Negroes allowed."
Whitney was furious. While the other members of the team went to the back, he returned to the bus, without food. Much later, very angry and very hungry, Whitney reached home. Mr. Young Senior, who had gone to bed, came down in his pajamas to find out how the game had gone.
"The game was fine," shouted Whitney. "But that white man..." and he was off in a furious recital of what had happened.
"I hate him," Whitney ended.
"Son," said Mr. Young, "if there is one thing I hate, it is HATE. Hate harms and most of all it harms the person who hates. If a white man hates you, that is his problem. Don't hate him back - that would be YOUR problem."
After graduation from high school, Whitney Young Junior entered college. In his junior year, six-foot-two and very handsome, Class President and Football Team Manager, he was very popular, especially with girls.
One Sunday, at College Chapel, he noticed a beautiful girl in the choir. Her name was Margaret Buckner and soon they were "going steady."
World War II broke out and Whitneywas drafted. He was assigned to special classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here again he met prejudice, but his brains, willingness to help others and pleasant ways soon made him many white friends. On a three-day pass, he in his uniform and Margaret in a pretty yellow suit, were married in her home, and he returned to overseas duty.
He was assigned to the 1695 Combat Engineers Battalion where all of the soldiers were black, and all of the officers were white. Soon the soldiers developed a hatred toward the whites so real and so fierce, that none of the officers dared to go out at night. Sergeant Young decided to act as mediator and despite great odds, the fear and hatred did dissipate and the Battalion became a unit, a united fighting force. Whitney Young had found his life work.
When the war was over, Whitney entered the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, where Margaret was studying psychology. She finished her studies two months before their daughter, Marcia, was born on Halloween, 1946. One year later, Whitney received his MA in Social Work and because of his remarkable success as a volunteer worker, he was offered and accepted the position of Industrial Relations Director of the Urban League in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was able to place so many black workers in good jobs that he was asked to become the Executive Director of the Urban League in Omaha, Nebraska. Again, equally fine success brought him the position of Dean of the Social Work in Atlanta University, Georgia. Here Lauren was born, and here as in the other places they had lived, the Unitarian Church became an important part of their family life.
Eight years later, the call came for Whitney to become the Executive Director of the National Urban League, with headquarters in New York City. He accepted and the family moved into a white neighborhood in New Rochelle and found their way to the Community Unitarian Church in White Plains.
His work for the Urban League was astonishingly successful. Thousands and thousands of black workers were given equal opportunities with companies like Ford, because Whitney influenced top management. Millions of dollars were raised to create schools, job-training opportunities and new black businesses. He wore a platinum lapel button, enameled black and white with an equals sign in the center(=). He talked about Green Power for Blacks (money), which he said was true Black Power. He served as a consultant to Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Ford. President Johnson awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. When President Nixon was elected, he asked Whitney to be a member of his cabinet. Whitney refused because he thought he could accomplish more in the position he held. Nonetheless, President Nixon asked him to come to Washington to meet with him and the entire cabinet. He was the first civilian to be so honored. There seemed to be no end to the good he could do.
In 1971, he was in Africa to address the Afro-American Conference, meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, to attempt to build better understanding between Africa and America. His speech was well received. In a relaxed and happy mood, he and some friends set out for a swim at Lighthouse Beach -- his favorite recreation. The surf was very high and the rip tide was exceptionally high so swimming was very strenuous. Probably he had a heart attack. At any rate, he drowned. Whitney Young was dead.
His family, his friends, his church, his nation and the entire world were stunned. Only forty-nine years old, with a productive future ahead, he had finished his life. When his death was announced in the United States Congress, both houses passed a joint resolution saying:
"His life and his accomplishments reflect much credit upon the entire human race."
Dr. Peter Samsom, his minister, along with many other distinguished leaders, participated in his memorial service at Riverside Church in New York City. On Thursday morning, March 16, 1971, Whitney Young was buried. President Nixon gave the eulogy. This was the first time a President of the United States had ever spoken a the gravesite of a black person. He said:
"Whitney Young's genius was that he knew how to accomplish what other people were merely for... He leaves his own monument; not one, but thousands of men and women in his own race who have an equal chance that they otherwise might never have had except for what he thought.
Whitney Young's message was this: What can I do to make this a better country? What can I do through helping others, through recognizing their equality, their dignity, their individuality, to realize the American Dream?" |
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