Aurelia N. Young

Aurelia Young died in Los Angeles, CA, on October 17, 2010.

Young told an interviewer in the 1980s that she was inspired to work for equality for Black citizens when she surveyed her community in the 1940s and found few opportunities for her Black children to pursue recreation, clubs, music, and enrichment. She was part of a social circle of prominent African Americans in Jackson that included civil rights activist Medgar Evers and she taught on the same college faculty as author Margaret Walker Alexander.

In 1979, Aurelia Young helped organize the nonprofit organization that pursued a license for and operated WMPR-FM, the first public radio station in Mississippi and the only one dedicated to programming for African Americans. Young served as president of J. C. Maxwell Group, Inc. and took over station management during times of financial distress.

Aurelia Young earned a Master's of Music degree from Indiana University in 1955 paid for by a state program Mississippi operated to keep Black graduate students out of its segregated universities. In May 1975, she was selected as Teacher of the Year by the Mabel Carney Chapter (at Jackson State University) of the Student National Education Association. She took pride in expanding opportunities for young Black students and bristled at suggestions she and her Black colleagues needed training on remediation from more privileged counterparts. Aurelia Young established the bachelor's of music program at Jackson State; she retired after 30 years on the faculty.

Aurelia Norris married Jack Young Sr. in 1938 and was the mother of two children, Jack H. Young Jr. and Hilda Jeannette Young. Jack H. Young Sr. represented civil rights activists, including Freedom Riders. Jack Young credited Aurelia Young for her support in his decision to pursue the law after two decades as a postal worker. Aurelia Young's salary kept the family afloat during the early years of his law practice, which began when he passed the bar in 1951. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In 1941, she helped found the Jackson alumna chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Aurelia N. Young (1915-2010) was a musician, music educator, and civil rights activist. She taught at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) and Tougaloo College.

Aurelia Jeannette Norris was born in 1915 in Knottsville, Kentucky, the daughter of John H., a farmer, and Hilda A. Stone Norris. Young earned a bachelor's degree in 1937 from Wilberforce University, where she studied music theory, organ, and French horn.