Whitney Young

Whitney Young
Young in 1964
Executive Director of the National Urban League
In office 1961–1971
Preceded by	Lester Granger
Succeeded by	Vernon Jordan
Personal details
Born	Whitney Moore Young Jr. (1921-07-31)July 31, 1921 Shelby County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	March 11, 1971(1971-03-11) (aged 49) Lagos, Nigeria
Spouse	Margaret Buckner ​ (m. 1944)​
Children	2
Education	Kentucky State University (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MSW)
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1941–1946
Rank	First Sergeant
Battles/wars	World War II

Whitney Moore Young Jr. (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) was an American civil rights leader. Trained as a social worker, he spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively worked for equitable access to socioeconomic opportunity for the historically disenfranchised. Young was influential in the United States federal government's War on Poverty in the 1960s.