In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson bestowed the Medal of Freedom on civil rights activist Whitney M. Young Jr. Three years later, President Richard M. Nixon sent a U.S. Air Force plane to Nigeria to bring Young's body home.
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But Young thought it was critical to make those connections, and he took his message to boardrooms across America, as well as to the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon White Houses. It was said of Young that he could bring together all the people -- black and white, rich and poor -- because he could talk to all of them.
In March 1971, Young was part of an American delegation attending a conference in Lagos. He was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean when he apparently had a heart attack and drowned. He was 49. In 1973, the East Capitol Street Bridge was renamed in his honor.