Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. (November 17, 1944 – January 3, 1966) was a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

and

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

activist who was murdered for trying to desegregate a " whites only" restroom. Younge was an enlisted service member in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, where he served for two years before being medically discharged. Younge was an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a leader of the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League. Younge was the first African-American university student to be murdered in the United States due to his actions in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Three days after his death, SNCC became the first civil rights organization in the United States to oppose the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, partly on the grounds that like Younge, innocent civilians should not face deadly violence.

Early life

Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee ( ) is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same y ...

. His father, Samuel Younge Sr., was an occupational therapist, and his mother was a local schoolteacher. From the age of 12 to 14, from 1956 to 1958, Younge attended Cornwall Academy, in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. He graduated from Tuskegee Institute High School in 1962, after which he joined the United States Navy. Younge served in the

from 1962 until July 1964, when he was given a medical discharge as a result of having to have one of his kidneys removed. Upon his discharge from the Navy, Younge began attending the Tuskegee Institute, in 1965, as a political science student.

Civil rights activism

Younge became involved in the Civil Rights Movement during his first semester at the Tuskegee Institute. He participated in the Selma to Montgomery protest march in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

, against the " Bloody Sunday" incident in March 1965. Younge joined the SNCC and the Tuskegee Institute for Advancement League (TIAL) — a local civil rights student group formed with the help of the SNCC. He soon started helping to lead protests by the organizations against civil rights infractions in Alabama. Then, in April 1965, he went to

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and worked with Unita Blackwell and Fannie Lou Hamer to help the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party get black voters registered. In the Summer of 1965, Younge lead Tuskegee Institute students in challenging overt discrimination in Tuskegee. The group attempted to enter white restaurants, held rallies, and picketed establishments that refused to hire black people. Several times they attempted to attend segregated white churches and were brutally beaten twice. In September 1965, Younge was arrested and jailed after attempting to drive a group of African-Americans to get registered to vote in Lee County, Alabama. Younge continued his efforts to get blacks registered to vote in Macon County, Alabama four months after being released from jail, up until his death.

Murder and aftermath

Younge was shot in the face (under the left eye) by Marvin Segrest, a 68-year-old white gas station attendant at a

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

station in

, on January 3, 1966. The shooting came after a verbal altercation between Younge and the attendant about Younge allegedly attempting to use a " whites-only" bathroom. Younge had retrieved a golf club from a vehicle and was holding it when he was shot. Younge became the first black college student to be murdered for his actions in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Samuel Younge Sr. said of his son's death, "This is an era of social revolution. In such revolutions, individuals sacrifice their lives." A justice department report from 2011 contests this version of events. The report claims that Younge had been belligerent with Segrest several times previously, including one incident where he tried to avoid paying the correct price for gas, and another where he physically threatened Segrest for not having the correct type of gas. On the day of the shooting, Younge was drunk and demanded to use a restroom inside the gas station that may have been an employees-only restroom. When Segrest refused, Younge first asked a friend for a gun, and then when one was not forthcoming, began taunting Segrest, at one point grabbing a golf club. Segrest then shot Younge as he was running down an alley several meters away.

Trial

On January 4, 1966, Segrest was arrested, but released on $20,000 bond. He was indicted for murder in the second degree and tried on December 7. The trial was moved from Macon County, where blacks outnumbered whites by a 2-1 margin, to Lee County. He was found not guilty by an all-white jury the next day. His acquittal sparked outraged protests in Tuskegee.

Tributes

In January 1966, a protest of Younge's murder was staged in front of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

by Leslie Bayless, with a coffin with a picture of Younge attached to it. Police forcibly removed the casket and arrested Bayless for disorderly conduct.

SNCC reaction

After Younge's death, the SNCC decided to publicly join the opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. A statement on January 6, 1966, wrote that:

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee has a right and a responsibility to dissent with United States foreign policy on any issue when it sees fit. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee now states its opposition to United States' involvement in Vietnam on these grounds: We believe the United States government has been deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, just as the government has been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom of colored people in such other countries as the Dominican Republic, the Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia, and in the United States itself. ... The murder of Samuel oungein Tuskegee, Alabama, is no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both oungeand the Vietnamese sought, and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by law. In each case the United States government bears a great part of the responsibility for these deaths. Samuel oungewas murdered because United States law is not being enforced. Vietnamese are murdered because the United States is pursuing an aggressive policy in violation of international law. — Press release: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

References

External links

SNCC Digital Gateway: Murder of Sammy Younge & SNCC's Statement on Vietnam
Digital documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out
Civil Rights Division Notice to Close File
containing a detailed description of the crime and followup

{{DEFAULTSORT:Younge, Sammy Jr. 1944 births 1966 deaths People murdered in 1966 African-American activists 20th-century American military personnel Activists for African-American civil rights Military personnel from Tuskegee, Alabama Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee History of racial segregation in the United States American nonviolence advocates Murdered African-American people Deaths by firearm in Alabama Assassinated American civil rights activists Activists from Alabama African-American history of Alabama Anti-black racism in Alabama Tuskegee University alumni United States Navy sailors Unsolved murders in the United States People murdered in Alabama African-American United States Navy personnel