Educational Media Reviews Online

“We must understand the distinction between rhetoric and relevance, between charisma and character, between symbols and substance, between protest and programs. We’ve got to be serious. We’ve got to take care of business.” -- Whitney Young, Jr.

Narrated by Alfre Woodard, this feature length documentary highlights the accomplishments, achievements, and activism of Whitney Young, Jr. (1921-1971), former Executive Director of the National Urban League (1961-1971), and champion for economic and social change for African Americans from the 1940s through the early 1970s.

Directed by Young’s niece, Bonnie Boswell, the film tells the story of a celebrated civil rights activist who understands the American power system, and who is able to employ diplomatic and tactical skills to strongly impact state and federal decisions and policy. Young is able to influence three Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon), major corporate CEOs (Donald Kendall, PepsiCo; Henry Ford, Ford Motors; and James A. Linen, Time magazine), labor leaders, and serve as a mediated voice of reason among high-profile black civil rights leaders (Farmer, King, Lewis, Randolph, Wilkins).

Born in segregated Lincoln Ridge, KY to educated parents, Young is taught at an early age the overall benefits of interracial cooperation, as well as to uplift those less fortunate. After graduating from Lincoln University with an undergraduate degree in social work, he enlists in the Army during WWII and soon becomes a mediator between alienated, embittered black troops and their white officers. Recognizing his strength as a mediator, Young decides to dedicate his life’s work to improving race relations in America. After earning a Masters’ degree in social work at the University of Minnesota, he soon becomes involved in the local chapter of the National Urban League, quickly climbing the ranks from industrial relations secretary to President of the Nebraska chapter to national Executive Director. He also receives invitations to serve as Dean of the School of Social Work at Clark University, Atlanta, and President of the National Association of Social Workers.

Young’s charm, upright character, pragmatism, and diplomatic skills help to persuade corporate business leaders to buy into his ideology that “integration is good for business.” Often using humor to make relevant points and to bridge communication with the white community, Young is credited with integrating the workforce. In one year alone, he is able to help 40,000 blacks secure employment. His non-threatening, yet no-nonsense way of communication helps to guide President Johnson’s hand in signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and 1965 Voting Rights Act. However, not everyone agrees with Young’s approach to empower black Americans. His non-militant approach alienates and angers some of the younger student organizations such as, the Black Panther Party, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who believe in alternative ways to bring about economic and social equality.

Still, as one person points out, Whitney’s greatest core contribution to American politics and to the government is his implementation of a domestic Marshall Plan in which parts of the plan are incorporated into Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty program. Unfortunately, with Johnson’s resignation and Nixon’s election, the 28 million dollars earmarked to the National Urban League to help eradicate poverty, and improve social and economic conditions for African Americans are diverted to help fund the war in Vietnam. In 1971, Young dies not seeing his dream come to fruition. While visiting Lagos, Nigeria, Young suffers a heart attack. Ironically, it is Nixon who has his body flown from Nigeria, and delivers his eulogy in Lexington, Kentucky. .

The Powerbroker includes excellent archival footage, and a venerable list of talking heads such as: Amiri Baraka (CORE), Roy Innis (CORE), Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Harvard), Julian Bond (SNCC), Paul Hudson (Broadway Federal Bank), Ossie Davis (actor, activist), Kenneth Chenault (AmEX), Donald Rumsfeld (US Office of Economic Opportunity), Vernon Jordan (National Urban League), John Hope Franklin (Historian), John Lewis (SNCC), Manning Marable (Columbia) John W. Mack (National Urban League), Dorothy Height (National Council of Negro Woman), Victor Wolfenstein (UCLA), and Howard Zinn (Historian). The technical aspects of the film are good, and the music is outstanding.

I highly recommend this film from the jr. high level to adult audiences, and for all library media collections.