Andrew Jackson Young was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 12, 1932, to Andrew Jackson Young, Sr., a dentist, and Daisy Fuller Young, a teacher. After graduating from Howard University in 1951 with a biology degree, Young chose to become a minister. He attended Hartford Theological Seminary and was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1955. On June 7, 1954, he married Jean Childs of Marion, Alabama, with whom he had four children -- Andrea, Lisa, Paula, and Andrew "Bo" Jackson Young, III. Young married Carolyn Watson in 1996.

Young has been involved in public policy issues and social change all of his adult life -- as a clergyman, civil rights leader, congressman, U.S. representative to the United Nations, and private citizen.

Starting as a minister in the 1950s, Young was a pastor in Alabama and Georgia and an associate director of Youth Work for the National Council of Churches.

In 1961, Young joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and became a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. -- participating in the major civil rights movements of the time. Among these were the Birmingham Movement of 1963, which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the dismantling of segregation in the South. Others include the Selma Movement of 1965, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that year and to revolutionary political change in the South; the Poor People's Campaign of 1968; the movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War; and numerous campaigns of voter registration, economic development, and labor organizing in the North and South.

From 1970 to 1972, Young was chair of the Atlanta Community Relations Commission. The City of Atlanta created the commission in 1966 to study and report on race relations, investigate discrimination, and submit recommendations for improving race relations to the mayor.

In 1972, Young was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia, becoming the first African-American congressman from the Deep South since Reconstruction. He was re-elected in 1974 and 1976. As a congressman, Young was active on various issues, including foreign policy, civil rights, urban affairs, mass transit, and the environment. He sponsored legislation that established the U.S. Institute for Peace, the African Development Board, and the Chattahoochee National Park.

In his first term in Congress, Young served on the House Banking and Currency Committee and its subcommittees on International Finance, International Trade, Mass Transportation, and Consumer Affairs. In his second term and until he left Congress to become U.N. Ambassador, he was a member of the House Rules Committee, which reviews all major legislation before it can be considered on the floor.

He was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic Study Group, and the Environmental Study Group.

In 1976, Young served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee's national voter registration campaign.

After winning the presidency in 1976, Jimmy Carter appointed Young U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations -- the first African-American to serve in that position. Young also was a Cabinet and National Security Council member during his tenure. He represented the United States at international conferences and on diplomatic missions worldwide, traveling to about 70 nations.

He served as U.N. ambassador from Jan. 30, 1977, to September 23, 1979. In 1980, President Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Young continued his national and global public policy advocacy as a private citizen, focusing on human rights, environmental justice, health, education, leadership, and economic development. He was president of Young Ideas, Inc., a nonprofit organization that addressed public policy questions and assisted individuals and groups involved in domestic and foreign policy issues.

He also wrote a weekly column on current events for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate that appeared in more than 40 newspapers.

In 1981, Young was elected mayor of Atlanta and worked to establish Atlanta as an international city.

After serving two terms as mayor from 1982 to 1989, Young ran for Governor of Georgia in 1990 but was defeated by Zell Miller.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed him the founding chairman of the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund. Young also was co-chair of the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games and worked at Law Companies Group, Inc. With Ambassador Carlton A. Masters, Young co-founded the global development firm GoodWorks International in 1997.

In 2003, he established the Andrew J. Young Foundation to advance his vision of peace, human rights, education equity, mentorship, and servant leadership. Foundation initiatives include producing the nationally syndicated "Andrew Young Presents" documentary series; developing a public forum leadership series with the Morehouse College Leadership Center; organizing forums at the Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies; creating the Making of Modern Atlanta project with a book and documentary; establishing the Pass on Blessings Award; and supporting the Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA and Jean Childs Young Institute for Youth Leadership.

Throughout his career, Young has received numerous honorary degrees and awards. In 2011, he received an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement, and his portrait was installed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

He is the author of several books, including A Way Out of No Way: A Spiritual Memoir and An Easy Burden: Civil Rights and the Transformation of America.