Andrew Young: The Dirty Work
At 93, Andrew Young is sharing the untold story behind landmark civil rights victories. “Andrew Young: The Dirty Work,” premiering on MSNBC, Friday, Oct 17, traces his behind the scenes organizing with Dr. King and the SCLC, the strategy that powered Birmingham, Selma, and beyond, and the lessons for today’s democracy.
At 93 years old, Andrew Young has spent a lifetime shaping history from behind the scenes. A preacher, diplomat, and former mayor of Atlanta, he is once again stepping forward — not to seek credit, but to tell the story of what it took to build a movement.
His new documentary, Andrew Young: The Dirty Work, premieres Friday, October 17 on MSNBC. The film follows Young through memories of his early years alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), when his duties were less about recognition and more about responsibility.
Young describes those early tasks — answering King’s overflowing mail, organizing marches, negotiating with city officials — as the unglamorous labor that held the movement together. It was the kind of work that rarely made headlines but kept the dream alive.
A Lifetime in Motion
Born in New Orleans and educated at Howard University and Hartford Theological Seminary, Young joined King’s organization in 1957, just as the Montgomery Bus Boycott had awakened a national conscience. His calm temperament and steady faith made him the ideal organizer, often traveling ahead of King to meet local clergy, business leaders, and civic officials.
That work — quiet, strategic, and sometimes perilous — meant he was usually out of the camera’s frame. Yet he was present for many of the pivotal moments of the 1960s, including campaigns in Birmingham, Selma, and St. Augustine. It was in Florida in 1964 that Young was brutally beaten during a demonstration — an attack that horrified the nation and helped galvanize support for the Civil Rights Act.
From Movement to Office
After King’s assassination in 1968, Young continued to press for social change through political service. He won election to Congress, became U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter, and later served two terms as mayor of Atlanta, helping transform the city into a center of Black political and economic power.
Even with those titles, Young has always viewed himself as a servant of the movement rather than its star. The film underscores that belief, presenting his recollections not as nostalgia but as instruction for a new generation confronting its own struggles for justice and democracy.
Lessons for Today
Executive producer Rachel Maddow conceived the project after hearing Young refer to his early duties as “dirty work.” She saw in that phrase a metaphor for civic commitment — the kind of unseen labor that turns ideals into results.
Through filmed conversations recorded earlier this year, Young reflects on how progress has never been the product of perfection but of persistence. He contrasts the deliberate planning of 1960s demonstrations with today’s fast-moving digital activism, noting that while technology changes the pace, the purpose remains the same.
Continuing the Dream
The documentary arrives at a time when voting rights, racial equity, and public trust in democracy are again under strain. For Young, sharing his story is both legacy and responsibility. “The dream isn’t finished,” he says in the film. “My part of it is to remind people how much work it takes.”
Through archival footage and contemporary interviews, Andrew Young: The Dirty Work reveals the humility behind one of America’s most accomplished public servants — a man who has quietly done the heavy lifting of history for more than seven decades.