This week in Black history

Jet, Dec 20, 2004

December 16, 1976--

Andrew Young was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on this day. Young, serving his third term in Congress from Georgia, resigned his seat to take the post. He became the first Black appointee in the Carter Administration and first Black to fill the U.N. post for the U.S. He served in the post from 1977 to 1979. As ambassador Young was in on top-level discussions of major foreign policies and had some hand in shaping them. A graduate of Howard University and Hartford Theological Seminary, he was ordained in the United Church of Christ and served as a pastor of churches in Alabama and Georgia. In addition to serving in Congress, Young fought for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as executive vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and served as mayor of Atlanta. The New Orleans native chronicled his life in An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America.

December 19, 1891--

Charles Randolph Uncles became the first Black Catholic priest ordained in the United States when he was ordained in Baltimore on this day. Cardinal James Gibbons ordained him at the then Cathedral of the Assumption. Uncles served as a priest for 42 years. A native of Baltimore, Uncles felt the call of priesthood early in his life and dedicated himself to acquiring an education and following the tenets of the Catholic Church. He attended Baltimore Normal School for Teachers and taught in Baltimore County public schools. He was fluent in Latin, Greek and French, and taught mainly at Epiphany College. He died on July 21, 1933.