Samuel Younge was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on 17th November, 1944. He became active in the civil rights movement while a student of the Tuskegee Institute.

In the winter of 1966, Younge was working as a vote registration volunteer at the Macon County courthouse. On 3rd January, Younge stopped at a service station to buy some cigarettes and use the toilet. When Younge discovered that African Americans did not use the same facilities as whites, he complained to the owner, Marvin Segrest. During the argument that took place about the Jim Crow facilities, Segrest picked up his gun and shot him dead.

Younge was the fifth civil rights worker who had been killed in Alabama in 12 months. After a protest march organised by students at the Tuskegee Institute, Segrest was arrested and charged with murder. At the end of his trial, an all-white jury found Segrest not guilty of murder.