Georgia democrats to honor Andrew Young

Sunday, March 3, 2013

photo Andrew Young, a civil rights activist who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at a convocation service at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., in this 2010 file photo.

ATLANTA - The Democratic Party of Georgia is planning to honor Ambassador Andrew Young with a lifetime achievement award.

Young is set to be honored with the John Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award at the party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner March 9 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Young, former mayor of Atlanta, was a fixture in the civil rights movement, was elected to Congress in 1972 and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve as a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Young assisted in Atlanta's bid for the 1996 Olympic Games, and holds more than 80 honorary degrees from colleges and universities in America and abroad.