INDEPENDENT LENS: The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights

Whitney Young at a news conference

Credit: Courtesy of Cecil Layne

Follow Whitney Young’s journey from segregated Kentucky to head of the National Urban League. 

Whitney M. Young, Jr. was one of the most celebrated — and controversial —leaders of the civil rights era. In The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights, airing Monday, February 18, 2013 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 11 and 1011), follow his journey from segregated Kentucky to head of the National Urban League. Unique among black leaders, Young took the fight directly to the powerful white elite, gaining allies in business and government, including three presidents. He had the difficult tasks of calming the fears of white allies, relieving the doubts of fellow civil rights leaders and responding to attacks from the militant Black Power movement.