The Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership, originally named the Leadership Center at Morehouse College, was established in 1998 by President Walter E. Massey. Funding raised by Dr. Massey supported establishment of the Center, including funding the Massey Leadership Building and an endowed chair of Leadership Studies. From 1998-2010 Dr. Walter E. Fluker served as the executive director of the Leadership Center. During his tenure, the Leadership Center became home to the interdisciplinary Leadership Studies Program which includes an academic minor, the Coca Cola Leadership Academy, and global learning experiences and study abroad at the college. In 2012 the Leadership Center and Andrew Young Center for International Affairs were integrated and renamed the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership. From 2012-2018 Mr. Julius Coles served as the director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership. He previously served as the director of the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs from 1997-2002 and 2010-2012. Since 2019 Dr. Jann Adams has served as the lead director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership.

The Leadership Center at Morehouse College was the brainchild of Dr. Walter Massey, ninth President of Morehouse (1995-2007), who in 1995 secured a 4-year planning grant from Coca Cola to support establishing a Leadership Center, including a Leadership Lecture Series, which was also supported by an endowment from Bank of America; a Pre-College Leadership Program; and pre-construction activities for a physical facility. That building would become the Massey Leadership Building. 

Dr. Willis Sheftall, Chair of the Department of Business, and a sub-committee of faculty and alumni convened “to investigate the feasibility of adding an academic, interdisciplinary leadership component to the College curriculum.”  Under Dr. Sheftall’s leadership, the Leadership Center created a 5-year strategic plan and secured one-half of the anticipated $12M for what is now the Massey Leadership Building. In 2000, Coca-Cola and Bank of America donated additional funding to endow a Leadership Lecture Series. 

From 1998-2010 Dr. Walter Fluker, a theologian and Howard Thurman scholar, served as the executive director of the Leadership Center. From 2004-2010, Dr. Fluker also served as the Coca-Cola Endowed Professor of Leadership Studies. In 2001, the Leadership Center proposed a Leadership Studies Program that would offer an interdisciplinary leadership minor. The program was approved by the faculty in 2002 and specified that the “leadership studies minor will be housed within the LCMC (Leadership Center).” The rationale provided was that the curriculum for the minor would “directly relate to LCMC-wide goals.” 

The curriculum developed under the auspices of the Leadership Center was anchored in “the Morehouse Tradition of Ethical Leadership.” The Leadership Center aimed to facilitate “the intellectual and ethical development of individuals for service to society”(1999). The pedagogical justification was that work in the classroom needed to be supplemented with experiential learning opportunities, including study abroad. Between 2002 and 2015, 93 students completed the Leadership Studies minor. Between 2005 and 2012, more than 100 students were sponsored for international travel under the auspices of the Center.

In 1997, under the leadership of President Massey, the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs was established at Morehouse College. Mr. Julius E. Coles, a former employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University, served as the director of the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs from 1997 to 2002 and from 2010 to 2012. 

In 2012, under the leadership of Provost and Senior Vice President Willis Sheftall, the Leadership Center and Andrew Young Center for International Affairs were integrated and renamed the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership (AYCGL). Mr. Coles served as the executive director of the AYCGL from 2012-2018. 

Since 2019 Dr. Jann Adams has served as the Lead Director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership (AYCGL). In 2019 an interdisciplinary working group of faculty reconfigured the AYCGL to include three complementary institutes in addition to the Leadership Studies Program: The Institute of International and Experiential Learning, the Institute of Social Justice Inquiry & Praxis, and the Institute of Social Justice Research and Policy. Each institute is led by a director who oversees the vision and programming for the area. Major programs of the Center include the Leadership Studies Program, international education, including study abroad, the AYC – Higher Education in Prisons Program, AYCGL Study Tours, the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program, and the Social Justice Scholars Program.