Young, Coleman A. (Coleman Alexander), 1918-1997

<p>Coleman A. Young was a politician, civil rights activist, Tuskegee Airman, and labor leader. He was the first African American to be elected mayor of Detroit. He also became the city’s longest-serving mayor.</p>

<p>Young was born on May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The family moved to Detroit in 1923 hoping to escape the violence, racism and political inequity that African Americans endured in the South. Although Young graduated near the top of his class at Detroit’s Eastern High School, he was not offered enough financial assistance to go to college. Ford Motor Company hired Young as an assembly line worker and he became involved in labor union efforts. His union activities eventually cost him his position with Ford.</p>

<p>Young was drafted into the military with the advent of World War II. He served as a bombardier with the Tuskegee Airmen, though he did not see combat. He had nearly completed his service when he was arrested for attempting to desegregate an officer’s club in Indiana.</p>

<p>Young returned to Detroit at the end of the war and resumed his work as a union organizer. He became the director of organization for the Wayne County branch of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. However, Walter Reuther—head of the United Auto Workers—fired Young in 1948 for radical behavior. Young then worked full-time for progressive presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace. Young also helped found the National Negro Labor Council in 1951.</p>

<p>Coleman Alexander Young (May 24, 1918 – November 29, 1997) was an American politician who served as mayor of Detroit, Michigan, from 1974 to 1994. Young was the first African-American mayor of Detroit.</p>

<p>Young had emerged from the far-left element in Detroit, and moderated somewhat after his election as mayor. He called an ideological truce and gained widespread support from the city's business leaders. The new mayor was energetic in the construction of the Joe Louis Arena, and upgrading the city's mass transit system. He assisted General Motors in building its new "Poletown" plant at the site of the former Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck. Some opponents said that he pulled money out of the neighborhoods to rehabilitate the downtown business district, but he said "there were no other options."</p>

<p>Young's tenure as mayor has been blamed in part for the city's ills, which have included the exodus of white middle-class taxpayers to the suburbs, the emergence of powerful drug-dealing gangs, and the rising crime rate. However, some of these things began well before Young's tenure.</p>

<p>Coleman Alexander Young was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on May 24, 1918. Five years later his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he would go on to become one of the most noted leaders in the city’s history. Young graduated from Eastern High School and was offered a scholarship to the University of Michigan. However, he was forced to decline when the Eastern High School Alumni Association failed to arrange a job that would assist him with his costs beyond tuition – an effort that was generally extended to white graduates of the high school.</p>

<p>Upon his graduation from Eastern, he joined an apprentice school for electricians through Ford Motor Company. However a less qualified white apprentice was given the available electrician’s position so Young was assigned to Ford’s assembly line and quickly became involved in underground labor activities. After several run-ins with company management, Young was fired.</p>

<p>In 1942, Young joined the U.S. Army, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He served as a bombardier and navigator in the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen unit, but never lost his passion for demonstrating against injustice, leading a successful protest against the exclusion of blacks from segregated officer’s clubs.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 11/07/1989 Detroit Mayor Won 56.37% (+12.73%)</li>
<li> 09/12/1989 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 50.70% (+26.92%)</li>
<li> 11/05/1985 Detroit Mayor Won 60.89% (+21.79%)</li>
<li> 09/10/1985 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 64.75% (+36.65%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1981 Detroit Mayor Won 65.95% (+31.90%)</li>
<li> 09/15/1981 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 71.79% (+62.37%)</li>
<li> 11/08/1977 Detroit Mayor Won 59.27% (+18.53%)</li>
<li> 09/13/1977 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 55.32% (+34.08%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1973 Detroit Mayor Won 56.34% (+12.69%)</li>
<li> 09/11/1973 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 23.06% (+0.00%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1964 MI State Senate 04 Won 87.51% (+75.03%)</li>
<li> 08/04/1964 MI State Senate 04 - D Primary Won 66.39% (+32.77%)</li>
<li> 11/02/1948 MI State Senate 02 Lost 2.26% (-77.52%)</li>
</ul>
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