Margaret Young, widow of civil rights leader, dies at 88
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Posted By: Reginald Culpepper on December 10, 2009 Denver -- Margaret Buckner Young, author, educator and widow of noted civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., died at her Denver home Saturday. She was 88. Services will be held in New York City on Dec. 17. Young once served on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, wrote children's books and served on corporate and arts boards. "She was a loving mentor to me," said Vernon Jordan, civil rights leader and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, who succeeded Whitney Young as head of the National Urban League. "I called her Mama," said Jordan. "She always had sound advice, such as 'Think about this,' " said Jordan, who will give the eulogy at her service. Education was a must with Margaret Young, said her daughter, Marcia Young Cantarella of New York City. "When I was a child she put cards with words printed on them on my bedroom wall. We'd go through the spellings and the meanings every morning," said Cantarella, who is an educational consultant in New York City. In 1954, Margaret Young was named a professor of educational psychology at Spelman College in Atlanta, and in 1971, after her husband's drowning death in Lagos, Nigeria, she became executive director of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Foundation, which helped scholars working in race relations and worked for equal opportunity for African-Americans. That foundation closed in 1990. She was a tutor in the New Rochelle, N.Y., public school system, helping parents when the school system integrated. Whitney Young was executive director of the National Urban League from 1961 to 1971. An adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, Young was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his work in the civil rights movement. Margaret Young, who met Whitney at Kentucky State College, which they both attended, "was genteel, had a great passion for the arts and was a woman of great compassion," said her daughter, Lauren Young Casteel of Denver. While her husband was a voice in the civil rights movement, Margaret Young made sure their home was a refuge for the family, said Casteel. In the 1980s, Margaret Young was on the board of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and was one of the few African-American females to serve on corporate boards -- the New York Life Insurance Co. and the Philip Morris Co. Young's children's books are about African-American history, civil rights and Martin Luther King Jr. Her biographies of African-Americans were reprinted in Parent Magazine. Margaret Buckner was born on March 29, 1921, in Campbellsville, Ky., and moved with her family when she was a child to Aurora, Ill., where she would enroll in integrated schools. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1942 at Kentucky State, where she was active in student affairs and president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The Youngs were married on Jan. 2, 1944. While her husband was in the Army, she earned a masters in educational psychology and testing from the University of Minnesota. She moved to Denver in 1990. In addition to her daughters, she is survived by four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Reginald Culpepper
President, Fulfillment and Web Services, HBCUCONNECT Clark Atlanta University class of 1998 Member Since September 2000 |
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