Jean Childs Young
Jean Childs Young (July 1, 1933 – September 16, 1994) was an educator and advocate for equal access to education in the United States. Young also dedicated much of her life to involvement in children's rights, and served as the American chairwoman of the United Nation's International Year of the Child in 1979. Young worked alongside her husband, Andrew Young, as an involved advocate in the Civil Rights Movement. Early life Jean Childs Young was born on July 1, 1933, in Marion, Alabama. Her father, Norman Lorenzo Childs, worked at a family-owned grocery store and bakery in Marion, sometimes traveling around Alabama to sell the store's homemade peanut brittle during the Great Depression. Her mother, Idella Jones Childs, was an elementary school teacher. Young had four siblings. She spent her childhood and early adulthood in Marion, attending Lincoln Normal School, and later attended Manchester College in Indiana, where she received her bachelor's degree in education in 1954. Jean Childs Young met Andrew Young in the summer of 1952. He had come to Marion, Alabama to be a pastor for a small church in the area. Upon his arrival, he had no place to stay and was assigned to lodge at the Childs’ house for a week. Childs met Andrew during his stay at her house, and the two developed a relationship over the course of that summer. In the fall, Childs returned to Manchester College, where she was working towards a bachelor's degree in education, and the two kept in touch via letters. Young proposed to Childs in December 1953, and they were married in Marion on June 7, 1954. Career Young initially taught elementary school in Thomasville, Georgia. After moving with her husband to Hartford, Connecticut, in the early-1950s so that he could earn a divinity degree from Hartford Seminary, she began teaching at Arsenal primary school. The couple later moved back to Georgia, where Young taught at two elementary schools in Atlanta. During her time teaching in Atlanta, Young became a coordinator of curriculum for elementary public schools in the area. Young also participated in educational advocacy and programs beyond the scope of the classroom. Along with being a dedicated elementary school teacher, Young also participated in the Teacher Corps program, one of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” programs that served as a means of enhancing education in impoverished or low-income areas of the United States. In 1970, she wrote a parental guide titled “Bridging the Gap: Home and School” to encourage parents of students to incorporate education from the classroom into life at home as well. Young was involved in higher education as well. She was one of the developers of Atlanta Metropolitan State College, and served there as a public relations officer as well as an advisor for a number of years after the school's establishment. While her husband held office as the Mayor of Atlanta, Young continued to advocate for improved education, and took action through the resources available to her as first lady of