Encyclopedia article about Samuel Younge Jr. (1944-1966), the first black college student to be killed as a result of his involvement in the American civil rights movement. During the mid-1960s, Younge worked to desegregate public facilities and led voter-registration drives in Macon County and in other parts of the South. His violent death in 1966 for trying to use a whites-only restroom inspired civil rights workers in Alabama and throughout the nation to continue their work for racial equality and pushed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to publicly oppose American involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.

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Forms part of the Encyclopedia of Alabama.