Charles Lemuel Young, Senior was born in Meridian, Mississippi in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, the eldest son and second of three children of E. F. Young, Junior., an entrepreneur and Velma Beal (November 4, 1902–February 1987). The year he was born, his father E. F. Young, Junior. founded the E.F. Young, Junior. Manufacturing Company in Meridian, Mississippi.
Within a few years it would become one of the most prominent black-owned businesses in the South. In 1950, while attending Tennessee State University in Nashville, his father died. Upon his graduation in 1951, Young would serve in the Korean War where he received the Bronze Star.
To this union were born four children: Charles Lemuel "Chuck" Deidre Young Arthur Young Vel(dore) Young Young was actively involved with the family business for fifteen years, raising to the position of president in 1969.
Under his leadership, the company would expand its markets into Canada and the Caribbean. He also helped to tear down the walls of segregation in Mississippi.
In 1980, Young was first elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives where he served for many years until his death.
Young has the distinction of being the first African American member of the Meridian Chamber of Commerce.
