Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young Jr.

Although he has not been as well remembered as Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, Whitney M. Young Jr. was one of the most effective leaders of the civil rights era. He spent years as an official in the National Urban League before being named its executive director in 1961; from that position, he was able to get the attention of the White House and some of the most powerful corporations in America.

Young's genius was to convince white America that its own best interests could be served by providing for the betterment of life of black Americans, particularly on the economic level. He was particularly adept at persuading the establishment that it would be much simpler to deal with the moderate, integrationist National Urban League than to face the increasingly vocal activist groups. Although some black leaders accused him of selling out, to the extent that one newspaper headline provocatively asked, "Whitney Young: Black Leader or 'Oreo Cookie'?," Dennis C. Dickerson's thoughtful portrait shows that Young did his best to always ensure that black interests were adequately dealt with.

Dickerson is particularly strong in his examination of the Urban League's programs for inner-city renewal and Young's outreach to corporate philanthropists. Readers who have been fascinated by the sweeping panorama of Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire will find much to enjoy in this close-up look at one of MLK's most significant contemporaries.