Dr. A. Z. Young, a noted civil rights leader in Bogalusa, served as president of the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League after it was organized in 1956 to represent the city’s black people when the Louisiana State Legislature enjoined the NAACP from operating in Louisiana. He became president in 1965 and guided the League in testing Bogalusa’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While leading the League, Young led the historic 1967 nine day civil rights march from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge, protected by the Louisiana State Police and referred to as the 105-Mile Gauntlet, while facing opposition known as the Great Challenge and a violent counter demonstration called "The Battle of Satsuma." A World War II veteran who had served with distinction in the U.S. Army 761st Battalion under General George Patton, Young returned to Bogalusa at age 42 and became a worker, organizer, and leader at the Crown-Zellerbach Paper Company. He led the League through a tumultuous decade of white resistance and violence against black citizens’ struggle to end de facto and de jure racial segregation.