Boeing 767 model of the the aircraft named "Andrew Young 'Atlanta's Ambassador to the World'"
On March 11, 2021, Delta Air Lines held a ceremony to honor Ambassador Andrew Young by renaming a building at its headquarters the "Ambassador Andrew J. Young International Building" (the building was formerly known as the A2 Building).
Part of the renaming of the building included a complete remodeling of the lobby area including museum display cases. The Delta Flight Museum was asked to provide content for these cases to help elaborate Ambassador Young's connection to Delta.
The display cases feature items from the Delta Flight Museum collection that relate to Ambassador Young's continued work to connect the development of African enterprise to businesses in the United States. Items include: commemorative scarf recognizing ten years of Delta flights to Lagos, Nigeria, 2017; soccer ball signed by the Nigerian Olympic soccer team, 2016; inaugural bag tag from Delta flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006.
Born on March 12, 1932, in New Orleans, Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. became one of the leading figures of the Civil Rights movement and had a career that included clergy member, activist, organizer, elected official and United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In each role he championed the idea that our actions not only affect the lives of those in our immediate vicinity, but explicitly impact the global community.
During the 1960s, Young became a close confidante of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and witnessed firsthand King's assassination in Memphis. In 1972, Young was elected to serve in as U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th District. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Young to become U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Young was the first African American to serve in this position.
"When people ask where I studied to be an ambassador, I say my neighborhood and my school." - Ambassador Andrew J. Young
When Ambassador Andrew J. Young was born in New Orleans in 1932, Delta, named Delta Air Corporation at the time, was flying crop dusters out of Monroe, Louisiana. In the next decades, both Young and Delta would move to Atlanta and it would be from Atlanta that both would make their indelible marks on the world.
Young's tenure as Atlanta Mayor, from 1982 to 1990, coincided with a major expansion of flights across the Atlantic Ocean into Europe for Delta. During his service on Delta's Board, from 1994 to 2004, Delta continued its expansion including a major increase in Trans-Pacific flights to East Asia.
This letter from former Delta CEO Ron Allen, congratulates Ambassador Young on reaching two million miles flying with Delta.
Since the 1990s, Ambassador Young has continued to support international development and human rights, especially in Africa and the Caribbean, through his leadership of GoodWorks International and the Andrew J. Young Foundation.
Coinciding with the celebration of Young's 80th birthday in 2012, Delta honored the Civil Rights leader's life work by dedicating a Boeing 767 with the name "Andrew Young: Atlanta's Ambassador to the World."
"What we've done in Atlanta-working together and moving forward-has to be global." -Ambassador Andrew J. Young
Tim Frilingos
Manager - Exhibits