This hour-long, one-on-one interview program provides a wonderful look into the life and career of Ambassador Andrew Young. Taped live in Atlanta, Georgia at Georgia Public Broadcasting on Saturday, June 17, 2006, this PBS-TV show is the eleventh in The HistoryMakers’ An Evening With. . . series. Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault interviewed former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. This was the third program taped in Atlanta, the first two being An Evening With Della Reese in 2004 and An Evening With Nikki Giovanni in 2005. 

The title sponsor for the event was Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Other sponsors included UPS, Coca-Cola, Jackmont Hospitality, Inc., Hilton Hotels Corporation, Delta Airlines, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Cox Communications, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Georgia Power, Herman Russell, South African Airways, Sprint, Turner Broadcasting, 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc., Billye & Henry Aaron, Atlanta Daily World, Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine, BellSouth Corporation, Bussey Florist, Comcast, Cox Enterprises, Inc., Howard University, MAC Cosmetics, Perfect Image Printing, Synovus Corporation. 

Journalist Monica Kaufman served as Mistress of Ceremonies for the event. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s representative Mark D. Goodman spoke on behalf of Wal-Mart. Business entrepreneur Herman J. Russell and Atlanta’s former first lady, Valerie Richardson Jackson, also spoke before the show began. 

Charlayne Hunter-Gault was introduced, and the program interwove live theatrical skits based on Andrew Young’s book, An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America and life. Hunter-Gault introduced Andrew Young, and they talked about Young’s childhood, college days, his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement, his relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his political and philanthropic career. It was an exciting and riveting night! 

The HistoryMakers would like to thank all the sponsors, actors, family members, volunteers and the entire City of Atlanta for their help, support and hospitality.  

 Andrew Young

Ambassador Young is a founding principal and Chairman of GoodWorks International. He has brought his long-held mission of facilitating economic development in the Caribbean and in Africa to an active role in GoodWorks. Ambassador Young has held a wide variety of leadership positions over the past several decades. Beginning his career as an ordained minister and top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the civil rights movement, he went on to be elected to three terms as a United State Congressman before being appointed as the United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations. Subsequently, he served two terms as the Mayor of Atlanta and assumed a leadership position as Co-Chairman of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Ambassador Young as Chairman of the $100 million Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund.

Ambassador Young remains active in community matters. He often sets time aside to talk to various schools and universities on a range of issues. He participates in events that foster sound public policy, economic development, human rights and education. 

Ambassador Young travels extensively to meet with officials and other individuals interested in improving the economic situation in Africa and the Caribbean. He has headed numerous missions to the continent of Africa and continues to use his extensive network to facilitate new business developments. His interest in international affairs is not limited to Africa and the Caribbean. He speaks and attends conferences focusing on global affairs. 

Charlayne Hunter-Gault 

Acclaimed journalist and author, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, has amassed more than 40 years in the media industry. She began her journalism career as a reporter for The New Yorker magazine. By 1997, she joined NPR after 20 years with PBS, where she was a national correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 2005, she returned to NPR as a Special Correspondent after six years as CNN’s Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent. Her numerous honors include two Emmy awards, two Peabody awards, more than three dozen honorary degrees, the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, the 1990 Sidney Hillman Award, the American Women in Radio and Television Award, and the Good Award for her CNN series on Zimbabwe. In August 2005, she was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. She is also the author of In My Place, a personal memoir of her groundbreaking history as the first black woman to attend and graduate from the University of Georgia, and New News Out of Africa, a compelling book on the renaissance of modern Africa. 

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