44 Facts About Coleman Young

Coleman Alexander Young was an American politician who served as mayor of Detroit, Michigan, from 1974 to 1994.

Coleman Young called an ideological truce and gained widespread support from the city's business leaders.

Coleman Young assisted General Motors in building its new "Poletown" plant at the site of the former Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck.

In 1981, Coleman Young received the Spingarn Medal for achievement from the NAACP.

Coleman Young's family moved in 1923 to Detroit, as part of the Great Migration out of the South to industrial cities that offered more opportunity.

Coleman Young became a member of the United Auto Workers, and worked for Ford Motor Company.

Later Coleman Young worked for the United States Post Office Department.

Coleman Young protested segregation in the Army and racial discrimination in the UAW.

In 1948, Young supported Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry A Wallace.

In 1952, Coleman Young stunned observers when he appeared before the McCarthy era House Committee on Un-American Activities and defied the congressmen.

Coleman Young made sarcastic retorts and repeatedly cited the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer whether or not he was a member of the Communist Party.

Coleman Young's performance made him a hero in Detroit's growing black community.

Coleman Young built his political base in Detroit on the East Side in the 1940s and 1950s, which had become a center of the African-American community.

In 1964, Coleman Young won election to the Michigan State Senate.

Coleman Young's most significant legislation was a law requiring arbitration in disputes between public-sector unions and municipalities.

Coleman Young decided to run for mayor of Detroit in 1973.

Specifically, Coleman Young notified Police Commissioner John Nichols that the police decoy unit, STRESS, was a major racially charged problem of the city.

Nichols represented a national trend of increased police power and brutality in post-riot cities, and therefore, in Coleman Young's opinion, had to be defeated.

In November 1973, Coleman Young narrowly defeated Nichols for mayor, becoming the first black mayor of Detroit.

Coleman Young's election represented a major turning point in both the city's racial and political history.

Coleman Young served five terms as mayor of Detroit from 1974 to 1994.

Coleman Young won re-election by wide margins in 1977,1981,1985 and 1989, to serve a total of 20 years as mayor, based largely on black votes.

In 1978, Mayor Coleman Young won his second term as mayor and planned to execute many campaign promises unfulfilled from his first term.

At the forefront of his agenda, Coleman Young wanted to ensure affirmative action initiatives in order to positively transform the racial makeup of city departments, particularly the police department.

Coleman Young had to convince Detroit voters to trust his plans to save the city from bankruptcy, and he had to convince state legislature and municipal workers to accept a two-year wage freeze.

In 1984, Coleman Young stated that racism was "at an all time high".

Coleman Young understood the need for suburban-city cooperation as essential for regional growth; the two needed to work with each other.

Coleman Young attempted to resolve this division by attracting more jobs in the city for a stronger partnership.

From 1982 until 1983, Coleman Young served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.

Coleman Young sought for these projects to promote economic and racial integration in the city.

Coleman Young attributed this 40 percent drop in population to the deterioration of neighborhoods which he promptly worked to overcome.

Coleman Young's administration sought to redevelop many neighborhoods throughout Detroit in order to revitalize the city's landscape.

Coleman Young was twice married and divorced, and had a twelve-year relationship with Joyce Finley Garrett from 1968 to 1980.

Coleman Young fathered a son with executive assistant director of public works Annivory Calvert and initially denied paternity until DNA tests proved that he was the child's biological father.

In 2000, a FOIA investigation showed that Coleman Young was under FBI surveillance beginning in the 1940s and continuing through the 1980s.

In 2018, Detroit Free Press columnist Bill McGraw said claims Coleman Young was corrupt were a "myth":.

In 1974, the year Coleman Young took office, the homicide rate in Detroit was slightly above 50 per 100,000 residents.

In 1994, the year Coleman Young retired from office, the homicide rate was roughly 54 per 100,000.

Coleman Young's administration coincided with some periods of broad social and economic challenges in the United States, including economic recession, oil shock, the decline of the US automotive industry and a loss of manufacturing sector jobs in the Midwest to other parts of the US and the world.

Supporters of Coleman Young attributed the flight to factors such as white resistance to court ordered desegregation, deteriorating housing stock, aging industrial plants and a declining automotive industry leading to a loss of economic opportunities inside the city.

Coleman Young himself explained the impact of the riots in his autobiography:.

Coleman Young himself expressed his belief that reform of the police department stood as one of his greatest accomplishments.

Coleman Young implemented broad affirmative action programs that lead to racial integration, and created a network of Neighborhood City Halls and Police Mini Stations.

Coleman Young used the relationship established by community policing to mobilize large civilian patrols to address the incidents of Devil's Night arson that had come to plague the city each year.