Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
CYou are watching Whitney Young Jr. This video captures him pitching affirmative action to America's corporations in the early 1970s. To understand what he is saying it is good to know something about him and about that unique time in American civil rights history.
Here is the entire interview. - youtu.be/6jFiFJdjqEw
Young Jr. was best known as the executive director of the National Urban League. Young had already been involved in many of the major struggles for civil rights during that time. Young was focused on addressing issues related to economic inequality, job discrimination, and housing segregation. He was a strong advocate for affirmative action programs which aimed to level the playing field for Black Americans who had been historically excluded from many jobs and educational opportunities.
Young had a complex relationship with corporations as you can hear in some of his statements in this video. He strongly believed economic empowerment for African Americans. He was a strong proponent of what he called "the power of constructive corporate self-interest," which meant that corporations could be motivated to support civil rights and economic empowerment for Black Americans if they could see a clear benefit for themselves. At the same time, however, Young was also critical of corporations that engaged in discriminatory practices or failed to address issues of racial inequality. He believed that corporations had a responsibility to use their power and influence to address social issues and to work towards creating a more just and equitable society.
Young saw corporations as both potential partners and potential adversaries in the struggle for civil rights and he came to feel that it was important to hold corporations accountable for their actions and to work towards creating a more just and equitable society for all.
Not all civil rights leaders agreed with him or liked what he was pitching. One group that was critical were younger, more radical civil rights activists. The most notable one was the Black Panthers. They believed that he was too focused on working within the system and that he was not aggressive enough in challenging the structures of power that he said perpetuated inequality and oppression. They saw his approach as a compromise of principles and a betrayal of the struggle for Black liberation. They believed that Black Americans needed to take more direct action including violence to challenge the status quo and to build new institutions and structures that would empower their communities. It is that subject that he is talking about in the first statement in this video.
Young also worked to address the issue of police brutality and the criminal justice system's treatment of Black Americans. He was a vocal critic of the militarization of police departments and the use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, and he advocated for reforms to the justice system to ensure that all citizens were treated fairly and justly.
Clearly Whitney Young was powerful and articulate speaker and that is understandable when you look at his roots. His father Whitney M. Young Sr. was the president of the Lincoln Institute and served twice as the president of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association. His mother was a teacher who served as the first female postmistress in Kentucky (second in the United States), being appointed to that position by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.
In pushing at corporations, young fostered close relationships with CEOs such as Henry Ford II, leading some blacks to charge that Young had sold out to the white establishment. Young denied these charges and stressed is feeling that it wasn't important to work within the system to effect change.
He said: “We as a country, have blazed unimagined trails technologically and industrially. We have not yet begun to pioneer in those things that are human and social… I think that social work is uniquely equipped to play a major role in this social and human renaissance of our society, which will, if successful, lead to its survival, and if it is unsuccessful, will lead to its justifiable death.”
Whitney Young drowned in 1971 while swimming with friends in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was attending a conference. President Nixon sent a plane to Nigeria to collect Young's body and traveled to Kentucky to deliver the eulogy at Young's funeral. In the eulogy Nixon said that Young's legacy was that "he knew how to accomplish what other people were merely for".Young's work was considered instrumental in breaking down the barriers of segregation and inequality that held back African Americans.
If you found interesting either what Whitney Young Jr. said or my description, please support my efforts by clicking the Super Thanks button below the video screen.
Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker
CYou are watching Whitney Young Jr. This video captures him pitching affirmative action to America's corporations in the early 1970s. To understand what he is saying it is good to know something about him and about that unique time in American civil rights history.
Here is the entire interview. - youtu.be/6jFiFJdjqEw
Young Jr. was best known as the executive director of the National Urban League. Young had already been involved in many of the major struggles for civil rights during that time. Young was focused on addressing issues related to economic inequality, job discrimination, and housing segregation. He was a strong advocate for affirmative action programs which aimed to level the playing field for Black Americans who had been historically excluded from many jobs and educational opportunities.
Young had a complex relationship with corporations as you can hear in some of his statements in this video. He strongly believed economic empowerment for African Americans. He was a strong proponent of what he called "the power of constructive corporate self-interest," which meant that corporations could be motivated to support civil rights and economic empowerment for Black Americans if they could see a clear benefit for themselves. At the same time, however, Young was also critical of corporations that engaged in discriminatory practices or failed to address issues of racial inequality. He believed that corporations had a responsibility to use their power and influence to address social issues and to work towards creating a more just and equitable society.
Young saw corporations as both potential partners and potential adversaries in the struggle for civil rights and he came to feel that it was important to hold corporations accountable for their actions and to work towards creating a more just and equitable society for all.
Not all civil rights leaders agreed with him or liked what he was pitching. One group that was critical were younger, more radical civil rights activists. The most notable one was the Black Panthers. They believed that he was too focused on working within the system and that he was not aggressive enough in challenging the structures of power that he said perpetuated inequality and oppression. They saw his approach as a compromise of principles and a betrayal of the struggle for Black liberation. They believed that Black Americans needed to take more direct action including violence to challenge the status quo and to build new institutions and structures that would empower their communities. It is that subject that he is talking about in the first statement in this video.
Young also worked to address the issue of police brutality and the criminal justice system's treatment of Black Americans. He was a vocal critic of the militarization of police departments and the use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, and he advocated for reforms to the justice system to ensure that all citizens were treated fairly and justly.
Clearly Whitney Young was powerful and articulate speaker and that is understandable when you look at his roots. His father Whitney M. Young Sr. was the president of the Lincoln Institute and served twice as the president of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association. His mother was a teacher who served as the first female postmistress in Kentucky (second in the United States), being appointed to that position by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.
In pushing at corporations, young fostered close relationships with CEOs such as Henry Ford II, leading some blacks to charge that Young had sold out to the white establishment. Young denied these charges and stressed is feeling that it wasn't important to work within the system to effect change.
He said: “We as a country, have blazed unimagined trails technologically and industrially. We have not yet begun to pioneer in those things that are human and social… I think that social work is uniquely equipped to play a major role in this social and human renaissance of our society, which will, if successful, lead to its survival, and if it is unsuccessful, will lead to its justifiable death.”
Whitney Young drowned in 1971 while swimming with friends in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was attending a conference. President Nixon sent a plane to Nigeria to collect Young's body and traveled to Kentucky to deliver the eulogy at Young's funeral. In the eulogy Nixon said that Young's legacy was that "he knew how to accomplish what other people were merely for".Young's work was considered instrumental in breaking down the barriers of segregation and inequality that held back African Americans.
If you found interesting either what Whitney Young Jr. said or my description, please support my efforts by clicking the Super Thanks button below the video screen.
Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker
