Editing Coleman Young (section)

==Early life and education==
Young was born in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama]], to William Coleman Young, a dry cleaner, and Ida Reese Jones. His family moved in 1923 to Detroit, as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] out of the South to industrial cities that offered more opportunity. His family later converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]], though Young was denied entry to a Catholic high school due to his race.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=J. Y. |date=1997-11-30 |title=Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young Dies |language=en-US |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/11/30/detroit-mayor-coleman-a-young-dies/2ce50b7f-786e-407d-9d6e-f4c4fa4eaa16/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=2022-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111014319/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/11/30/detroit-mayor-coleman-a-young-dies/2ce50b7f-786e-407d-9d6e-f4c4fa4eaa16/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Young graduated from Eastern High School in 1935.<ref name="Long-powerful mayor">{{cite web|author=McGraw, Bill|title=Long-powerful mayor shaped Detroit, confronted critics and fought for racial justice|url=http://www.freep.com/news/young/cymed.htm|work=Detroit Free Press|date=November 30, 1997|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309033023/http://www.freep.com/news/young/cymed.htm|archive-date=March 9, 2005|access-date=January 15, 2017}}</ref> He became a member of the [[United Auto Workers]], and worked for [[Ford Motor Company]]. Later Young worked for the [[United States Post Office Department]].<ref name="Long-powerful mayor"/>

During [[World War II]], Young served in the 477th Medium-Bomber Group (the renowned [[Tuskegee Airmen]]) of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] as a [[second lieutenant]], [[Bombardier (air force)|bombardier]], and navigator.<ref name="mayoral papers">{{cite web|url=http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/blogs/coleman-young-mayoral-papers-project/about|title=About the Coleman A. Young Mayoral Papers Project|publisher=Detroit Public Library|access-date=January 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321125649/http://detroitpubliclibrary.org/blogs/coleman-young-mayoral-papers-project/about|archive-date=March 21, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CNN obit">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000925120511/http://www.cnn.com/US/9711/29/coleman.young/index.html|archive-date=September 25, 2000|title=Former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young dies at 79|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9711/29/coleman.young/index.html|access-date=January 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>[https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/young-coleman Coleman A. Young] [[Detroit Historical Society]]</ref> As a lieutenant in the 477th, Young played a role in the [[Freeman Field Mutiny]] in 1945. Some 162 African-American officers were arrested for resisting segregation at a base near [[Seymour, Indiana]].<ref>{{cite thesis|author=Murphy, John D.|title=The Freeman Field Mutiny: A Study in Leadership|publisher=[[Air Command and Staff College]]|date=March 1997}}</ref><ref name="kaczor19851221">{{Cite news |last=Kaczor |first=Bill |date=1985-12-21 |title='Chappie' James was headed for politics, author says |page=11B |work=The Sumter Daily Item |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aqUiAAAAIBAJ&pg=1331%2C10724635 |access-date=2020-07-01 |archive-date=2021-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710234946/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aqUiAAAAIBAJ&pg=1331,10724635 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1940s, Young was labelled a fellow traveler of the Communist Party by belonging to groups whose members also belonged to the Party, and was accused of being a former member.{{sfn|Rich|1999|pages=70–72}} Young's involvement in worker-oriented organizations, including the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]], the [[United Auto Workers]] and the [[National Negro Labor Council]], made him a target of anti-Communist investigators, including the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and [[House Un-American Activities Committee|HUAC]]. He protested [[racial segregation|segregation]] in the Army and racial [[discrimination]] in the [[United Auto Workers|UAW]]. In 1948, Young supported Progressive Party presidential candidate [[Henry A. Wallace]].<ref name="nytyoung">{{cite news |title=Coleman A. Young, 79, Mayor of Detroit And Political Symbol for Blacks, Is Dead |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 30, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/30/us/coleman-a-young-79-mayor-of-detroit-and-political-symbol-for-blacks-is-dead.html |access-date=February 6, 2017 |archive-date=November 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106134123/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/30/us/coleman-a-young-79-mayor-of-detroit-and-political-symbol-for-blacks-is-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1952, Young stunned observers when he appeared before the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]] House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and defied the congressmen. He made sarcastic retorts and repeatedly cited the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer whether or not he was a member of the Communist Party.<ref>{{cite website |last=Coleman |first=Ken |website=Michigan Advance |title=On this day in 1952: Coleman A. Young tells congressional committee he’s no ‘stool pigeon’ |date=28 February 2022 |url=https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/on-this-day-in-1952-coleman-a-young-tells-congressional-committee-hes-no-stool-pigeon/}}</ref> The encounter came at a highly publicized formal hearing in Detroit. Young's performance made him a hero in Detroit's growing black community. To a committee member's statement that he seemed reluctant to fight communism, Young said: <blockquote>"I am not here to fight in any un-American activities, because I consider the denial of the right to vote to large numbers of people all over the South un-American." To the HUAC congressman from Georgia, he said: "I happen to know, in Georgia, Negro people are prevented from voting by virtue of terror, intimidation and lynchings. It is my contention you would not be in Congress today if it were not for the legal restrictions on voting on the part of my people."<ref name=alexander05>{{cite book| first=Coleman| last=Alexander| date=May 5, 2005| title=The Quotations of Mayor Coleman A. Young| publisher=Wayne State Univ Press}}</ref>{{sfn|Alexander|2005|p=kindle locations 258–264}}</blockquote>

He said to another HUAC congressman: 
<blockquote>"Congressman, neither me or none of my friends were at this plant the other day brandishing a rope in the face of John Cherveny, a young union organizer and factory worker who was threatened with repeated violence after members of the HUAC alleged that he might be a communist,<ref name=lunn>{{cite news| title=Rally at Wayne Causes Near Riot| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19520312&id=9wtbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3684,1028957| last=Lunn| first=Harry| date=March 13, 1952| work=[[The Michigan Daily]]| access-date=July 15, 2014| archive-date=July 10, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710234945/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19520312&id=9wtbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3684,1028957| url-status=live}}</ref> I can assure you I have had no part in the hanging or bombing of Negroes in the South. I have not been responsible for firing a person from his job for what I think are his beliefs, or what somebody thinks he believes in, and things of that sort. That is the hysteria that has been swept up by this committee."{{sfn|Alexander|2005|pp=Kindle locations 264–268}}</blockquote>

According to historians [[Harvey Klehr]], [[John Earl Haynes]] and [[Ronald Radosh]], Coleman Young was "a secret CPUSA [Communist Party USA] member."<ref name=klehr>{{cite journal| last1=Klehr| first1=Harvey| first2=John Earl| last2=Haynes| first3=Ronald| last3=Radosh| url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/childs-play_591433.html?nopager=1| title=Childs at Play: The FBI's Cold War triumph| journal=[[The Weekly Standard]]| volume=16| issue=47| date=September 5, 2011| access-date=July 15, 2014| archive-date=December 30, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230040712/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/childs-play_591433.html?nopager=1| url-status=dead}}</ref>