Former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young said he often did the “dirty work” during the civil rights fight with the Rev. Martin Luther King in the 1960s.
This seems like a disgusting phrase. The grunt work looks more like this — efforts that may not make the headlines but will keep the momentum of a historic movement going.
Young, 93, narrates the documentary “Andrew Young: Dirty Job,” which premieres Friday at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC. After hearing Young use the word to describe what he was doing, Rachel Maddow, the film's executive producer, said she knew they had a title and theme.
When Mado found Yang, he was eager to cooperate. Over the past few months, he recorded some of his memories in six separate sessions. What goes without saying is the realization that time is running out when it comes to hearing directly from those involved in the civil rights struggle.
Join a movement—and hand over a stack of mail
When King first became known for his leadership role in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, Young had just graduated from college. bus boycott to protest apartheid. Young wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but he didn't want to be a dentist like his father. He felt a call to join King's movement.
When he did so in 1957, he was handed a stack of mail. His first job was to write replies to letters sent to King, who signed the replies. “He liked the way I answered questions and started asking me to do more,” Young recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. His behind-the-scenes work has taken shape.
“In this role, you can't march in the parade,” he said. “You always sit in the back of the bus, the back of the line. But I'm really not looking for any recognition. I'm just trying to do something that no one else is doing. I just keep doing it.”
As King prepares to launch the fight against segregation Flying to Birmingham, ALIn 1963, he asked Young if he knew any white people in the city. “I said, 'I don't know any black people in Birmingham,'” he recalled. King knew that Young had grown up in New Orleans—the same neighborhood as the American Nazi Party’s headquarters—and knew that most of the people he worked with had little experience with white people.
In effect, Yang became the forerunner of King's campaign. He would meet with clergy, business leaders and others in the community so they knew ahead of time what King wanted to accomplish, even if they disagreed.
He said many people don't know or understand this aspect of King's work. In contrast, he said, conditions did not allow for such demonstrations in 2020 after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The angry reaction is instantaneous.
The one time Young was in the spotlight was during the 1964 civil rights demonstrations in St. Augustine, Florida. King wanted Young to avoid a confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan when the civil rights bill was debated in the U.S. Senate. Instead, Young was beaten, and the resulting public revulsion helped push the legislation forward. “I think it was the most successful spanking I've ever received,” Young recalls in the film.
From behind the scenes to the spotlight
back king was assassinated In 1968, Young was expected to remain in the background to support the movement's goal of electing supporters to the White House. But he said the danger kept others from fleeing after King and Malcolm X were killed several years ago.
Young ran for Congress, first lost, then won. His growing popularity prompted President Jimmy Carter to appoint him Ambassador to the United Nations. Young later served as mayor of Atlanta in the 1980s.
“I started bumping into people and they started giving me challenges,” Young told The Associated Press. “That's been my life for the past 75 years.”
She told The Associated Press that hearing Young talk about his experience changed Madow's life and made her realize the magnitude of the sacrifices made by those involved in such work.
“When you talk about bravery in the abstract, it's very romantic,” she said. “But bravery means sacrifice, pain and loss in life. I think Ambassador Yang was very eloquent about that.”
She was interested in the story of the internal conflicts behind the scenes of King's movement. Young told of nearly getting into a fight with a colleague at a meeting after King's assassination. While the overall destination may be clear, people don't always agree on how to get there.
Maddow sees lessons for today in 'Young Movies'
since she Stop hosting prime time shows Maddow said creating other content, including podcasts and movies five nights a week, depicting Americans from different eras struggling with anti-democratic or authoritarian impulses is a regular themes of her work. The young documentary was a perfect fit, she said.
“Given what’s going on in the news and in our country right now, I think it’s more important than ever to look to the examples of people who were part of movements like the civil rights movement — not just people who were morally upright, but people who succeeded against incredible odds,” she said.
She said every American who wants to contribute in politics needs to figure out what they are good at and what they are capable of doing.
Yang concludes in the film: “I have lived most dreams (The king) is talking about something. Even at age 93, Young says he doesn't believe his work is done. Providing his reflections on “Andrew Young: The Dirty Job” is part of that effort.
“It was well worth my time to sit down and figure it out,” he said.
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. follow him in http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social