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' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

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 i ...

activist who was murdered for trying to desegregate a "

whites only Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

" restroom. Younge was an enlisted service member in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, 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 Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

Advancement League. Younge was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

university student to be murdered in the United States due to his actions in support of the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. Three days after his death, SNCC became the first civil rights organization in the United States to oppose the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

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

Early life

Younge was born on November 17, 1944, in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

. His father, Samuel Younge Sr., was an

occupational therapist Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's abi ...

, and his mother was a local schoolteacher. From the age of 12 to 14, from 1956 to 1958, Younge attended

Cornwall Academy Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. 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

, 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 capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

, against the "

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

" 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 The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segreg ...

. 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 state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and worked with

Unita Blackwell Unita Zelma Blackwell (March 18, 1933 – May 13, 2019) was an American civil rights activist who was the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in the U.S. state of Mississippi.Blackwell 2006, p. 10. Blackwell was a project dir ...

and

Fannie Lou Hamer Fannie Lou Hamer (; Townsend; October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting and women's rights activist, community organizer, and a leader in the civil rights movement. She was the co-founder and vice-chair of the Freedom De ...

to help the

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), also referred to as the Freedom Democratic Party, was an American political party created in 1964 as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in the state of Mississippi during the ...

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 Lee County is a county located in east central Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 174,241. The county seat is Opelika, and the largest city is Auburn. The county is named for General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870), who served as ...

. Younge continued his efforts to get blacks registered to vote in

Macon County, Alabama Macon County is a county located in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its county seat is Tuskegee. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senat ...

four months after being released from jail, up until his death.

Death

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 station in

, on January 3, 1966. The shooting came after a verbal altercation between Younge and the attendant about Younge using the " whites-only" bathroom. 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."

Trial

On January 4, 1966, Segrest was arrested, but released on $20,000 bond. He was indicted for

murder in the second degree ''Murder in the Second Degree'' is a 2016 album by the American musical group Yo La Tengo. The album consists of cover songs originally written by other musicians, all of which were played live in the studio by Yo La Tengo as fundraisers for indep ...

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. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

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 Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...

. 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 1966 murders in the United States 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 Nonviolence advocates History of racism in Alabama Murdered African-American people Deaths by firearm in Alabama Assassinated American civil rights activists Activists from Alabama African-American history of Alabama Tuskegee University alumni United States Navy sailors Unsolved murders in the United States People murdered in Alabama African-American United States Navy personnel