Athens, Ga. – Andrew Young, a former ambassador to the United Nations and Civil Rights leader, will deliver the 2010 Mary Frances Early Lecture on April 6 at 4 p.m. in the UGA Chapel. The tenth annual lecture honors Mary Frances Early, the first African-American to earn a degree from UGA, and her legacy at UGA.
Young first came to national prominence by serving as a top aide and ordained minister to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement. He played a key role as a negotiator in Civil Rights protests across the South.
In 1972, Young was elected to the House of Representatives from Georgia’s 5th District. After serving four years in Congress, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations. He later served two terms as Atlanta’s mayor and co-chaired the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
In recent years, Young has extensively worked on humanitarian efforts across the world. He is the co-founder and chair of GoodWorks International, an organization that promotes international business in Africa and the Caribbean.
Young has traveled to more than 150 countries to build the economies of developing nations with a business model that combines education, religion, democracy and free enterprise.
The Mary Frances Early Lecture was established in 2001 by Graduate and Professional Scholars, a minority graduate and professional student organization at UGA. The Graduate School assumed responsibility for the lecture series in 2010, working in partnership with GAPS to institutionalize it as part of UGA campus life.
The annual lecture recognizes Mary Frances Early’s dedication towardmaking UGA an institution of higher learning for all people. The lecture strives to demonstrate the progress that has been made in achieving her vision and identifies the work that remains to be done.
Mary Frances Early began her graduate study in 1961 in support of the first African-American undergraduates who enrolled at UGA and graduated a year later with a master’s degree in music education.
For more information on the Mary Frances Early lecture or the Graduate School, see www.grad.uga.edu or contact Judy Milton at 706/425-2953 or jmilton@uga.edu.