Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.: A Conversation with Guest Speakers: Ambassador Andrew J. Young and Dr. Hortense J. Spillers
22 January 2021
Speaking from a hallowed spot in the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for a world in which “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” We reflect on Dr. King’s dream in the spirit of faith and hope for the world’s future. As a new American administration is sworn in this month, we can also strive for a new era of racial, ethnic, and human rights. We commemorate Dr. King’s birthday with Ambassador Andrew J. Young and Dr. Hortense J. Spillers. In reflecting upon Dr. King’s timeless example of humanistic transformation, these honored guests will deepen our understanding of the current moment and find hope for a better tomorrow.
Ambassador Andrew J. Young has earned worldwide recognition as a pioneer and champion of civil and human rights. Young’s lifelong dedication to service is illustrated by his extensive leadership experience of over 65 years, serving as a member of Congress, US Ambassador to the United Nations, mayor of Atlanta, and ordained minister, among other positions. During the 1960s, Young was a key strategist and negotiator during civil rights campaigns that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Appointed as ambassador to the United Nations in 1977, Young negotiated an end to white-minority rule in Namibia and Zimbabwe and brought President Jimmy Carter’s emphasis on human rights to international diplomacy efforts. Later, as two-term mayor of Atlanta, Young generated over a million jobs and brought in more than 1,100 businesses, and $70 billion in foreign direct investments. Young has received honorary degrees from more than 100 universities and colleges in the US and abroad and has received various awards, including an Emmy Lifetime Achievement award in 2011 and the Dan Sweat Award in 2017. His portrait is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Ambassador Young also serves on a number of boards, including the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, Morehouse College, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State, and Americas-Mart. In 2003, he and his wife Carolyn McClain Young founded the Andrew J. Young Foundation to support and promote education, health, leadership, and human rights in the US, Africa, and the Caribbean. Young currently serves as the chairman of the Andrew J. Young Foundation. In 2012, Young retired from GoodWorks International, LLC, after well over a decade of facilitating sustainable economic development in the business sectors of the Caribbean and Africa. Young was born in 1932 in New Orleans, and he currently lives in Atlanta with his wife, who serves as vice chair of the Andrew J. Young Foundation. He is also a father of three daughters and one son, a grandfather of nine and a great grandfather of one. Dr.
Hortense J. Spillers received her PhD from Brandeis. She has taught at Wellesley College, Haverford College, Emory University, and Cornell University. She is currently the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University. She has also served as a guest professor in the Program in Literature at Duke University during the 2002-03 academic year and for two consecutive years during tri-semester terms at the John F. Kennedy Center for North American Studies at the Free University in Berlin, Germany in 2000 and 2001. Dr. Spillers is a recipient of numerous honors and awards, including grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. She has been a fellow at the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle, and the Center for the Study of the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto. While at Haverford College, Dr. Spillers was chair of the English Department for two years. She then moved to Cornell University and joined the Norton projects by serving as one of the period editors of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature.
