[3] Kenneth Victor Young was born on December 12, 1933, in Louisville, Kentucky, into an African American family.
[1][5] While attending University of Louisville, he met fellow student Sam Gilliam, as well as G. Caliman Coxe, and Bob Thompson.
[1] Young briefly worked at DuPont chemical in Louisville, and in moved in 1964 to Washington, D.C., for a new job role as an exhibit designer at the Smithsonian Institution.
[1] Eventually, he met many of the other Washington Color School painters, possibly through Kainen or in informal associations.
[1] His first museum solo exhibit was, Ken Young: Recent Paintings (1974) at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.