Sammy Younge Jr.

Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. (November 17, 1944 – January 3, 1966) was a civil rights and voting rights activist who was murdered for trying to desegregate a "whites only" restroom. Younge was an enlisted service member in the United States Navy, where he served for two years before being medically discharged. Younge was an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a leader of the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League. Three days after his death, SNCC became the first civil rights organization in the United States of America to oppose the Vietnam War, partly on the grounds that like Younge, innocent civilians should not face deadly violence.

Early life Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in Tuskegee, Alabama. His father, Samuel Younge Sr., was an occupational therapist, and his mother was a local schoolteacher. Younge served in the United States Navy from 1962 until July 1964, when he was given a medical discharge as a result of having to have one of his kidneys removed.

Civil rights activism Younge became involved in the Civil Rights Movement during his first semester at the Tuskegee Institute. In the Summer of 1965, Younge lead Tuskegee Institute students in challenging overt discrimination in Tuskegee. The group attempted to enter white restaurants, held rallies, and picketed establishments that refused to hire black people. Several times they attempted to attend segregated white churches and were brutally beaten twice. In September 1965, Younge was arrested and jailed after attempting to drive a group of African-Americans to get registered to vote in Lee County, Alabama. by Marvin Segrest, a 68-year-old white gas station attendant at a Standard Oil station in Tuskegee, Alabama, on January 3, 1966. The shooting came after a verbal altercation between Younge and the attendant about Younge allegedly attempting to use a "whites-only" bathroom. Younge had retrieved a golf club from a vehicle and was holding it when he was shot.

Younge became the first black college student to be murdered for his actions in support of the Civil Rights Movement.

Trial On January 4, 1966, Segrest was arrested, but released on $20,000 bond (a little over $200,000 in 2025). He was indicted for murder in the second degree and tried on December 7.

Tributes In January 1966, a protest of Younge's murder was staged in front of the White House by Leslie Bayless, with a coffin with a picture of Younge attached to it. Police forcibly removed the casket and arrested Bayless for disorderly conduct.