Ambassador Andrew Young to Give Major Address On Public Policy, Human Rights in Cincinnati.

Business & Feature Editors, News/Assignment Desks

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2001

Ambassador Andrew Young, will deliver a major address on Public Policy and Human Rights in Cincinnati on Thursday, October 11.

Young's lecture will be the third in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's Theodore M. Berry Lecture Series on Public Policy and Human Rights, which honors Cincinnati's first African American mayor and former head of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. The Berry Lecture Series is endowed with a major gift from Cincinnati Bell and Convergys Corporation (NYSE:CVG).

"It is very difficult to deal objectively with the problems of today," said Ambassador Young. "However, I've been able to find common ground between people in conflict. It is there we will learn to deal with the problems of race and poverty."

Young, co-chair of the Freedom Center's capital campaign is a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. Congressman, and former Mayor of Atlanta. He currently serves as president of the National Council of the Churches. He is also the chairman of GoodWorks International, a specialty-consulting group that provides strategic services to corporations and governments operating in the global economy. During a career spanning over two decades, Young has been at the center of some of the most important events in the second half of the 20th Century.

"Ambassador Young's generation made great strides in dealing with racial justice issues in this country, with his career exemplifying the conviction for freedom and human rights to which Mr. Berry dedicated his life. He has a message that today's generation needs to hear," said Ed Rigaud, president and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a national learning center scheduled to open in Cincinnati in 2004.

The Berry Lecture series honors a man who committed more than 60 years to promoting freedom and human rights and is focused on those areas of public policy which Berry influenced through his thoughts, leadership, oratory, and political action. These include but are not limited to education, economic development, social action, civil rights, racial reconciliation, and public administration.

Ambassador Young will deliver the lecture in Cincinnati on Thursday, October 11 at Music Hall at 7 p.m. The lecture is free but a ticket is required. Seating, however, will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available for the lecture at multiple locations including the Music Hall box office and Cincinnati Bell store locations.

Andrew Young

Andrew Young's prominence extends beyond this nation to numerous of other countries. A native of New Orleans, Young has been at the center of some of the most important events in the second half of the 20th Century.

Following his graduation from Howard University and Hartford Theological Seminary, Young was a pastor for several years. On January 3, 1993, Andrew Young became the first Black person to represent Georgia in Congress. He represented the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia and served three terms. In 1977, Young was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and under his leadership, the U.S. took an active role in negotiations for the independence of Namibia and Zimbabwe.

In 1981, Mr. Young was elected Mayor of Atlanta and served two terms, until 1988. Under his administration, over one million jobs were created, and the Metropolitan region attracted more than $70 million in investments and construction. As co-chairman of the Atlanta Organizing Committee, Atlanta was awarded the Centennial Olympic Games held in 1996. President Clinton appointed Young Chairman of a $100 million Southern African Enterprise Development Fund to help establish small and medium-sized businesses throughout Southern Africa.

Even though most Americans know Young as a public figure for the past two decades, he was associated with the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. beginning in 1961. He was associate director of the National Council of Christian Churches from 1957 to 1961. In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., appointed him a director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and was elected vice president of the SCLC in 1967. From 1970 to 1972, he was chairman of the Atlanta Human Relations Commission. Andrew Young's, An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America (Harper Collins; 1996), is a definitive insider's account of the American Civil Rights Movement. According to Coretta Scott King, "Andrew Young was among the most deeply committed members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's executive staff, and his contributions to the planning and execution of the Movement's strategy were critical to its success."

In 1998, Morehouse College renamed its Center for International Studies the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs. The Center's mission is the globalization of the College's academic programs, curricula, activities and the preparation of student for service in the world community.

Young has received many awards during his career. They include: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award; the Legion d'Honneur (France), and more than 45 honorary degrees from universities such as Notre Dame, Yale, Morehouse and Emory University.

Mayor Theodore M. Berry (1905 - 2000)

Theodore M. Berry's distinguished career and his commitment to racial reconciliation and human rights has made him one of Cincinnati's most well known leaders. Berry's influence was felt in Cincinnati and throughout the country, even as far as Africa. At the request of President John F. Kennedy, Berry reported on the political and social conditions of various African nations. Johnson later appointed him as national director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he led the nation's war on poverty.

In this position, Berry helped to establish more than 2,500 Community Action Agencies, which worked to empower the poor. Berry returned to Cincinnati and was elected mayor in 1972. His more than 60-year career has included many "firsts" -- first Black valedictorian at Woodward High School in Cincinnati in 1924, first Black assistant prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County, Ohio from 1939-42, first president of the Community Action Commission in 1964, first Black mayor of Cincinnati from 1972-75.

Born in Maysville, Ky. in 1905, Berry moved to Cincinnati's West End when he was six years old. He later attended the University of Cincinnati, earning a bachelor of arts degree in 1928 and a juris doctor degree in 1931, and was admitted in 1932 to the Ohio State Bar. He began practicing law in Cincinnati in 1932, becoming one of the area's few Black attorneys.

Berry was denied admission to the Cincinnati Bar Association on several occasions due to his social and political activism, which was considered radical at the time. He was finally admitted to the Bar in the 1950's, and was honored with its Trustees Award for outstanding service to the general public and the legal profession in 1993.

Throughout his career, Berry was a prominent community leader, serving on Cincinnati's City Council for more than 13 years. He was president of the local chapter of the NAACP from 1932-38 and again from 1945-46. He later became president of the Ohio State NAACP, and led the effort to enact Ohio's Fair Employment Practices Law in 1958. From 1979-80, Berry served as national general counsel to the NAACP in New York.

Cincinnati - Gateway to Freedom

The Underground Railroad was a system of cooperation before 1861 among enslaved African Americans, free African Americans, abolitionists, sympathetic Whites and Native Americans to help those who were enslaved escape their bonds and claim the promise of freedom. Cincinnati played a vital role in the Underground Railroad, largely due to its strategic location along the banks of the Ohio River. Viewed as the "River Jordan" by escaping slaves, the Ohio River was both the legal and symbolic boundary between the slave South and "the promise land" of the free North, especially Canada.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a national learning center, which uses the lessons of Underground Railroad history to prepare modern day freedom conductors for action today through its exhibits, dialogues, and educational programs.

In 1998, Theodore M. Berry Lecture Series on Public Policy and Human Rights was created to honor Cincinnati's first African American mayor and former head of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. The lecture is endowed with a major gift from Cincinnati Bell and Convergys Corporation. The individuals selected to present this address will have demonstrated a positive impact on U.S. policy in the area of interracial and intergroup cooperation. The first speaker (1998) was the Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham. The second recipient (1999) was Dr. John Hope Franklin.