Lexi Online A blog: Coleman Young Script

Coleman Young

Coleman Young was the first African American mayor in Detroit. He lived a very hard and discriminating life growing up, but in the end he was a very good man and a hero to a lot of people.

Coleman Alexander Young was born on May, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from William and Ida Young. He had four siblings and he spent most of his early years in Huntsville. When he was 5 years old he migrated to Detroit, MI in 1923 to escape racial injustices and the Ku Klux Klan in the south. When they migrated north they found the Ku Klux Klan brethren were active burning crosses on lawns. His father settled the family on Detroit’s lower east side in an ethnically and racially mixed neighborhood known as “Black Bottom”. While his mother was a school teacher his father opened a dry cleaning shop and worked a regular job as a night watchman. Growing up, Coleman got his interest in politics and a belief in equality for races from his father, where as he got his value of public goodwill and concern for the less fortunate from his mother. When Coleman was old enough, he went to the Detroit Public Schools but was later enrolled in St. Mary’s parochial school. He did very well in school and despite his scholarly standing was refused scholarships to University of Detroit High School, Catholic Central, and LaSalle High School. He ended up graduating from Eastern High School with honors. Coleman was offered a scholarship to the University of Michigan but had to decline because the Eastern High Alumni Association refused to assist him with costs other than tuition. In the 1950s Young worked in a laundry and a butcher shop, ran his own cleaning service, drove a taxi, and sold insurance.

Before Young started to work his way into office, his first job was at Ford Motors Company but was fired because he was a labor union organizer. He also served in World War 2 as a second lieutenant and bombardier-navigator with the Tuskegee Airmen. In 1948 he campaigned for the Progressive Party, which led to his dismissal from the Congress of Industrial Workers. He confounded the National Negro Labor Council, which he disbanded in the 1950s to avoid turning over its membership list during an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Finally, in the 1960s he plunged into politics winning a seat as a delegate to the Michigan constitutional convention. He was elected to the Michigan state senate in 1964 (serving from 1965-73). And then joined the Democratic National Committee in 1968.

Coleman Young was mayor of Detroit from 1974- 1993. He was the first black mayor of Detroit and was mayor for 20 years (5 terms). He tried focusing on revitalizing the crime-ridden city by attracting new businesses and reinforcing the police department. When he first ran for mayor in 1973, Detroit’s population was about 50% African American; he got 92% of African American vote. His opponent only got 91% of white votes. Young had many goals but one of his major goals was to transform the police department from one dominated by whites into an institution more closely reflecting the racial makeup of the city. He cited better police-community relation and the integrations of the police force and other institutions as his administrations proudest achievements. Young was able to raise millions for his campaign war chest and imposed a ban on city workers speaking to reporters. In his last three terms as mayor, Young’s administration was plagued by allegations of fraud, bribery, and mismanagement. During Young’s last term, his police chief was indicted in a financial scandal amid allegations that Young had operated a slush fund from his campaign war chest. African American politicians and other community leaders began to attack the Young administration for neglecting the city’s neighborhoods, not tearing down abandoned houses, allowing basic city services to decline, and failing to stem crime. In 1980, he led the National Democratic Conference of Mayors and became chairmen of the Democratic Convention Platform Committee. In 1991, Young was forced to hire a new police chief after Chief William Hart was indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing over $2 million dollars from a police department fund. In Young’s 20 years in office, he transformed Detroit from a city run by whites to a city led by African Americans, in government, the police department, the schools, and business.

Coleman Young retired in 1993 and remained outspoken on issues such as the 1995-1997 newspaper strike and his political machine continued to be a major factor in Detroit politics. Young served as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University and joined a group of investors who were seeking to build a casino in Detroit. But sadly, advancing age and years of battling emphysema had finally taken their toll and on July of 1997, he was hospitalized for pneumonia. He had battled emphysema and heart ailments for several months, but eventually lapsed into a coma. Young died on November 29, 1997 of respiratory failure.

Although Coleman Young lived a hard life he always pushed forward and wasn’t afraid to speak up and make a difference. And even though he had a lot of discrimination in his life it never stopped him from trying to reach his goals. In the end I’d say he reached them.

Works Cited

Harp, Andrea. "Coleman A. Young: Social and Political Powerbroker." life remembered. (2001): 1. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. <http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/elephant/young.htm>.

"Coleman Young." infoplease. 2000: 1. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/colemanyoung.html>.

"Coleman Young." Answers. n.d. 1. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. <http://www.answers.com/topic/coleman-young>.