Ralph Abernathy
Encyclopedia
Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
. Following King's assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC
Poor People's Campaign
and led the March on Washington, D.C. that had been planned for May 1968.
. Technically he was born in Linden, Alabama. After serving in the United States Army
during World War II
, he enrolled at Alabama State University
. In 1951 he earned a Masters of Science degree in sociology
from Atlanta University. As an officer of the Montgomery, Alabama
NAACP, he organized the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
to protest Rosa Parks
' arrest on December 1.
In the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Abernathy was the young pastor of the largest black church First Baptist Church
and a college professor, who, along with fellow English professor JoAnne Robinson, called for and distributed flyers asking the Negro citizens of Montgomery to stay off of the buses for what would become the Montgomery Bus Boycott
. At the end of the boycott, on January 10, 1957, Dr. Abernathy's church and his home (1327 South Hall Street) were bombed; his wife, Juanita, and infant daughter, Juandalynn, were unharmed.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
said at the beginning of his last speech, "I've been to the mountain top," that "Ralph David Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world." They first met in Atlanta, while still in school and formed a lifelong friendship and partnership which ended with King's death, April 4, 1968,
During World War II, David enlisted in the military as Ralph David, and rose to the rank of Platoon Sergeant before earning an honorable discharge as a result of his bout of rheumatic fever in Europe.
In 1945, he enrolled in Alabama State Teacher College, now called Alabama State University
in Montgomery, Alabama
, where he became student body President and Class President. He graduated with High Honors and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics.
While still a college student, he announced his call to the ministry, which he had envisioned since he was a small boy growing up in a devout Baptist family. He preached his first sermon on Mother's Day, 1948, in honor of his recently deceased mother.
Abernathy began his professional career in 1950, when he was appointed Personnel Director at Alabama State University; he later assumed the position of Dean of Men and Professor of Social Studies and Mathematics. During this period, he hosted a radio show and became the first black man on radio in Montgomery. In February 1952, he was called as the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church, the largest black church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he served for ten years.
He married Juanita Odessa Jones of Uniontown, Alabama on August 31, 1952 and their union produced five children, Ralph David Abernathy Jr., (August 16, 1953 - August 18, 1953), Juandalynn Ralpheda, Donzaleigh Avis, Ralph David III and Kwame Luthuli Abernathy.
On December 2, 1955, in response to the arrest of his NAACP co-worker, Rosa Parks
, Abernathy and his dearest friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott and co-founded the American Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery Improvement Association led the successful 381 days transit boycott challenging “Jim Crow” Segregation laws, and ended Alabama’s bus segregation.
While actively involved in the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, he completed his Master’s Degree in Sociology at Atlanta University. His master’s thesis, “The Natural History of A Social Movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association,” was published by Carlson Publishing in David Garrow’s book entitled, “The Walking City – The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956.”
The Abernathy home and church were bombed in January 1957, along with Mt. Olive Church, Bell Street Church and the home of Reverend Robert Graetz, on the evening that Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy and other Ministers were planning to convene to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta. Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy immediately returned to Montgomery, leaving Mrs. Coretta Scott King to conduct the first meeting of SCLC. Dr. Abernathy served as SCLC’s first Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President At-Large during the years that Dr. King was its president, and assumed the presidency at Dr. King’s request upon Dr. King's death.
After the success of the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville in 1961, Dr. King insisted Rev. Abernathy assume the Pastorate of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, moving his family from Montgomery, Alabama in 1962. He served as the Senior Pastor at that church until the time of his death.
The King/Abernathy partnership spearheaded successful nonviolent movements in Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Mississippi, Washington, Selma, St. Augustine, Chicago and Memphis. Their work helped to secure the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the abolition of Jim Crow Segregation Laws in the southern United States.
For 13 turbulent years, from 1955 until Dr. King’s death on April 4, 1968, Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy journeyed together, every step of the way and were inseparable as best friends, sharing the same hotel rooms, jail cells and leisure times with their wives, children, family and friends, all the way to the end. By tearing down the walls of segregation, discrimination and helping to establish new legislation, Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy were able to instill a new sense of pride, dignity and self-worth in millions of African Americans and people of all colors, all over the world. Their Civil and Human Rights Movement serves as an inspiration and model of America’s principled non violent struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
Abernathy endured with equanimity devastating bombings, violent and brutal beatings by southern policemen and State Troopers, 44 arrests, daily death threats against his life and those of his wife and children. He endured the confiscation of his inheritance of family land and his automobile, which his family had to re-purchase at public auction
. He endured the continual terrorizing of Dr. King, threats against and the bombing of the King home, the murders of colleagues, their civil rights workers, volunteering college students in the struggle, visiting ministers, a young white housewife who went to Selma and five innocent children in Birmingham. Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy, undaunted, unrelentingly marched the streets of the South proclaiming, “Let my people go.”
On April 4, 1968, Abernathy was with Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee
when King was assassinated. They shared Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. The night before at the Mason Temple, Abernathy introduced Dr. King before he made his last public address; King said at the beginning of his speech that "Ralph Abernathy is the best friend I have in the world." Dr. Abernathy cradled Martin Luther King, Jr., his dearest friend, in his arms, as King took his last breaths and died.
Assuming the mantle of the Civil Rights Movement and the Presidency of the SCLC, a griefstricken Abernathy led a march to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. In May 1968, Abernathy led the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC. The nation’s poor Blacks, Latinos, Whites and Native Americans came together from the Mississippi Delta, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Indian Reservations of the Northwest, the farmlands of the Southwest, and the inner cities of the North under the leadership of Dr. Abernathy to reside on the Mall of the Washington Memorial in Resurrection City. Hoping to bring attention to the plight of the nation's impoverished, they constructed huts in the nation's capital, precipitating a showdown with the police. On June 19, Ralph spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in front of tens of thousands of black and white citizens.
The Poor People’s Campaign reflected Abernathy’s deep conviction that “the key to the salvation and redemption of this nation lay in its moral and humane response to the needs of its most oppressed and poverty-stricken citizens.” His aim in the spring of 1968 was to raise the nation’s consciousness on hunger and poverty, which he achieved. The Poor People’s Campaign led to systematic changes in US Federal Policies and Legislation creating a national Food Stamp Program, a free meal program for low income children, assistance programs for the elderly, CEDAR and other work programs, day care and health care programs for low income people across America. June 24, 1968, the Washington, DC Police forced the poor to disband and demolished Resurrection City. Dr. Abernathy was jailed for nearly three weeks for refusing to comply with orders to evacuate.
On the eve of the Apollo 11
launch, July 15, 1969, Abernathy arrived at Cape Canaveral with several hundred members of the poor people to protest spending of government space exploration, while many Americans remained poor. He was met by Thomas O. Paine, the Administrator of NASA, whom he told that in the face of such suffering, space flight represented an inhuman priority and funds should be spent instead to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the homeless." Mr. Paine told Abernathy that the advances in space exploration were child's play compared to the tremendously difficult human problems of society, and told him that "if we could solve the problems of poverty by not pushing the button to launch men to the moon tomorrow, then we would not push that button." On the day of the launch, Dr. Abernathy led a small group of protesters to the restricted guest viewing area of the space center and chanted, "We are not astronauts, but we are people."
Abernathy took part in a labor struggle in Charleston, South Carolina
on behalf of the hospital workers of 1199B, which led to a living wage increase and improved working conditions for thousands of hospital workers.
Abernathy successfully negotiated a peace settlement at the Wounded Knee
uprising between the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Leaders of the American Indian Movement, Russell Means
and Dennis Banks.
Abernathy addressed the United Nations
in 1971 on World Peace and served as the leader of many peace missions as the President of the World Peace Council headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. As President and Chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Foundation, he remained president for nine years following Dr. King’s death in 1968 until his resignation in 1977, when he became President Emeritus until his death in 1990.
In 1977, he ran unsuccessfully for Georgia's 5th Congressional District seat, losing to Congressman John Lewis. He founded the nonprofit organization Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development (FEED), which offered managerial and technical training, creating jobs, income, business and trade opportunities for underemployed and unemployed workers of all races and ethnicities. Through a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, he built the Ralph David Abernathy Towers, a high rise Senior Citizens and Handicapped housing complex.
In 1979, Abernathy traveled around the country supporting Senator Edward M. Kennedy's candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. However, he shocked critics a few weeks before the 1980 November election, when he endorsed the front runner, Ronald Reagan
over the fledgling presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter
. With an inevitable Republican victory, Dr. Abernathy said that he felt that he had to endorse Reagan, so that African Americans might gain some respect in that political party. After the disappointing performance of the Reagan Administration on Civil Rights and other areas, Dr. Abernathy withdrew his endorsement of Reagan in 1984, remaining a Democrat until his death.
During his lifetime, Dr. Abernathy was honored with more than 300 awards and citations, including five Honorary Doctorate Degrees. He served as a representative on the National Council for the Aged, the World Commission on Hunger, the National NAACP, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the American Sociological Society, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union and on more than forty other organizations. An advocate of the Constitution's First Amendment for Religious Freedom, Dr. Abernathy served as Vice President along with Dr. Robert Grant and co-founded the American Freedom Coalition in 1980.
Abernathy testified, along with his executive associate, James Peterson of Berkeley,California, before the Congressional Hearings calling for the Extension of the Voting Rights Act, which has and continues to serve as the only legal method to ensure equal and fair voting practices in the Southern States, guaranteeing that everyone born in the United States of America, regardless of race, is entitled to full citizenship and the right to vote.
In the 1980s, the Unification Church
hired Dr. Abernathy as a spokesperson to protest the news media's use of the term "Moonies
", which they compared with the word "Nigger
". Abernathy also served as vice president of the Unification Church-affiliated group American Freedom Coalition, and served on two Unification Church boards of directors.
In 1989, Harper Collins published Abernathy’s autobiography, “And The Walls Came Tumbling Down.” It was his final accounting of his close friendship—indeed, partnership—with Martin Luther King, Jr. and their work in the Civil Rights Movement.
in New York, Morehouse College
in Atlanta, Kalamazoo College
in Michigan, and his Alma Mater, Alabama State University in Montgomery.
Interstate 20
Ralph David Abernathy Freeway, Abernathy Road and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard of Atlanta were named in his honor.
His son, Ralph David Abernathy, III, is a social activist who heads a community foundation which funds education and health and wellness programs in African American communities, as well as efforts toward prison reform.
is a noted actress, author and public speaker of Los Angeles, California. Rev. Ralph David Abernathy III, a former Georgia State Senator and Member of the State House of Representatives, resides in Atlanta
. Attorney Kwame Luthuli Abernathy lives in Atlanta.
Abernathy is entombed in Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
. Following King's assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
Poor People's Campaign
Poor People's Campaign
Organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Poor People's Campaign addressed the issues of economic justice and housing for the poor in the United States King said, “We believe the highest patriotism demands the ending of the war and the opening of a...
and led the March on Washington, D.C. that had been planned for May 1968.
Early life
He was born March 11, 1926 to W. L. Abernathy on the family 500 acres (202.3 ha) farm in Marengo County, AlabamaMarengo County, Alabama
Marengo County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is named in honor of a battlefield near Turin, Italy, where the French defeated the Austrians on June 14, 1800. As of 2010 the population was 21,027...
. Technically he was born in Linden, Alabama. After serving in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he enrolled at Alabama State University
Alabama State University
Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...
. In 1951 he earned a Masters of Science degree in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
from Atlanta University. As an officer of the Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
NAACP, he organized the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
to protest Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
' arrest on December 1.
In the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Abernathy was the young pastor of the largest black church First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church (Montgomery, Alabama)
The First Baptist Church on North Ripley Street in Montgomery, Alabama is a historic landmark. Founded in downtown Montgomery in 1867 as one of the first black churches in the area, it provided an alternative to the second-class treatment and discrimination African-Americans faced at the other...
and a college professor, who, along with fellow English professor JoAnne Robinson, called for and distributed flyers asking the Negro citizens of Montgomery to stay off of the buses for what would become the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
. At the end of the boycott, on January 10, 1957, Dr. Abernathy's church and his home (1327 South Hall Street) were bombed; his wife, Juanita, and infant daughter, Juandalynn, were unharmed.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
said at the beginning of his last speech, "I've been to the mountain top," that "Ralph David Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world." They first met in Atlanta, while still in school and formed a lifelong friendship and partnership which ended with King's death, April 4, 1968,
Civil rights work
He attended Linden Academy, a Baptist school founded by the First Mt. Pleasant District Association; he was financially supported by his father, who always said, “the bottom rail will come to the top, one day and justice will not always be denied to the colored man.” His gentle father taught him, “If you see a good fight, get in it and fight to win it!” At Linden Academy, David led his first demonstration to protest the inferior Science Lab. The school improved the science lab as a result of his persistent actions.During World War II, David enlisted in the military as Ralph David, and rose to the rank of Platoon Sergeant before earning an honorable discharge as a result of his bout of rheumatic fever in Europe.
In 1945, he enrolled in Alabama State Teacher College, now called Alabama State University
Alabama State University
Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...
in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, where he became student body President and Class President. He graduated with High Honors and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics.
While still a college student, he announced his call to the ministry, which he had envisioned since he was a small boy growing up in a devout Baptist family. He preached his first sermon on Mother's Day, 1948, in honor of his recently deceased mother.
Abernathy began his professional career in 1950, when he was appointed Personnel Director at Alabama State University; he later assumed the position of Dean of Men and Professor of Social Studies and Mathematics. During this period, he hosted a radio show and became the first black man on radio in Montgomery. In February 1952, he was called as the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church, the largest black church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he served for ten years.
He married Juanita Odessa Jones of Uniontown, Alabama on August 31, 1952 and their union produced five children, Ralph David Abernathy Jr., (August 16, 1953 - August 18, 1953), Juandalynn Ralpheda, Donzaleigh Avis, Ralph David III and Kwame Luthuli Abernathy.
On December 2, 1955, in response to the arrest of his NAACP co-worker, Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
, Abernathy and his dearest friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott and co-founded the American Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery Improvement Association led the successful 381 days transit boycott challenging “Jim Crow” Segregation laws, and ended Alabama’s bus segregation.
While actively involved in the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, he completed his Master’s Degree in Sociology at Atlanta University. His master’s thesis, “The Natural History of A Social Movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association,” was published by Carlson Publishing in David Garrow’s book entitled, “The Walking City – The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956.”
The Abernathy home and church were bombed in January 1957, along with Mt. Olive Church, Bell Street Church and the home of Reverend Robert Graetz, on the evening that Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy and other Ministers were planning to convene to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta. Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy immediately returned to Montgomery, leaving Mrs. Coretta Scott King to conduct the first meeting of SCLC. Dr. Abernathy served as SCLC’s first Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President At-Large during the years that Dr. King was its president, and assumed the presidency at Dr. King’s request upon Dr. King's death.
After the success of the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville in 1961, Dr. King insisted Rev. Abernathy assume the Pastorate of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, moving his family from Montgomery, Alabama in 1962. He served as the Senior Pastor at that church until the time of his death.
The King/Abernathy partnership spearheaded successful nonviolent movements in Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Mississippi, Washington, Selma, St. Augustine, Chicago and Memphis. Their work helped to secure the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the abolition of Jim Crow Segregation Laws in the southern United States.
For 13 turbulent years, from 1955 until Dr. King’s death on April 4, 1968, Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy journeyed together, every step of the way and were inseparable as best friends, sharing the same hotel rooms, jail cells and leisure times with their wives, children, family and friends, all the way to the end. By tearing down the walls of segregation, discrimination and helping to establish new legislation, Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy were able to instill a new sense of pride, dignity and self-worth in millions of African Americans and people of all colors, all over the world. Their Civil and Human Rights Movement serves as an inspiration and model of America’s principled non violent struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
Abernathy endured with equanimity devastating bombings, violent and brutal beatings by southern policemen and State Troopers, 44 arrests, daily death threats against his life and those of his wife and children. He endured the confiscation of his inheritance of family land and his automobile, which his family had to re-purchase at public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
. He endured the continual terrorizing of Dr. King, threats against and the bombing of the King home, the murders of colleagues, their civil rights workers, volunteering college students in the struggle, visiting ministers, a young white housewife who went to Selma and five innocent children in Birmingham. Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy, undaunted, unrelentingly marched the streets of the South proclaiming, “Let my people go.”
On April 4, 1968, Abernathy was with Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
when King was assassinated. They shared Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. The night before at the Mason Temple, Abernathy introduced Dr. King before he made his last public address; King said at the beginning of his speech that "Ralph Abernathy is the best friend I have in the world." Dr. Abernathy cradled Martin Luther King, Jr., his dearest friend, in his arms, as King took his last breaths and died.
Assuming the mantle of the Civil Rights Movement and the Presidency of the SCLC, a griefstricken Abernathy led a march to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. In May 1968, Abernathy led the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC. The nation’s poor Blacks, Latinos, Whites and Native Americans came together from the Mississippi Delta, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Indian Reservations of the Northwest, the farmlands of the Southwest, and the inner cities of the North under the leadership of Dr. Abernathy to reside on the Mall of the Washington Memorial in Resurrection City. Hoping to bring attention to the plight of the nation's impoverished, they constructed huts in the nation's capital, precipitating a showdown with the police. On June 19, Ralph spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in front of tens of thousands of black and white citizens.
The Poor People’s Campaign reflected Abernathy’s deep conviction that “the key to the salvation and redemption of this nation lay in its moral and humane response to the needs of its most oppressed and poverty-stricken citizens.” His aim in the spring of 1968 was to raise the nation’s consciousness on hunger and poverty, which he achieved. The Poor People’s Campaign led to systematic changes in US Federal Policies and Legislation creating a national Food Stamp Program, a free meal program for low income children, assistance programs for the elderly, CEDAR and other work programs, day care and health care programs for low income people across America. June 24, 1968, the Washington, DC Police forced the poor to disband and demolished Resurrection City. Dr. Abernathy was jailed for nearly three weeks for refusing to comply with orders to evacuate.
On the eve of the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
launch, July 15, 1969, Abernathy arrived at Cape Canaveral with several hundred members of the poor people to protest spending of government space exploration, while many Americans remained poor. He was met by Thomas O. Paine, the Administrator of NASA, whom he told that in the face of such suffering, space flight represented an inhuman priority and funds should be spent instead to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the homeless." Mr. Paine told Abernathy that the advances in space exploration were child's play compared to the tremendously difficult human problems of society, and told him that "if we could solve the problems of poverty by not pushing the button to launch men to the moon tomorrow, then we would not push that button." On the day of the launch, Dr. Abernathy led a small group of protesters to the restricted guest viewing area of the space center and chanted, "We are not astronauts, but we are people."
Abernathy took part in a labor struggle in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
on behalf of the hospital workers of 1199B, which led to a living wage increase and improved working conditions for thousands of hospital workers.
Abernathy successfully negotiated a peace settlement at the Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Incident
The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
uprising between the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and the Leaders of the American Indian Movement, Russell Means
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage...
and Dennis Banks.
Abernathy addressed the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in 1971 on World Peace and served as the leader of many peace missions as the President of the World Peace Council headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. As President and Chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Foundation, he remained president for nine years following Dr. King’s death in 1968 until his resignation in 1977, when he became President Emeritus until his death in 1990.
In 1977, he ran unsuccessfully for Georgia's 5th Congressional District seat, losing to Congressman John Lewis. He founded the nonprofit organization Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development (FEED), which offered managerial and technical training, creating jobs, income, business and trade opportunities for underemployed and unemployed workers of all races and ethnicities. Through a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, he built the Ralph David Abernathy Towers, a high rise Senior Citizens and Handicapped housing complex.
In 1979, Abernathy traveled around the country supporting Senator Edward M. Kennedy's candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. However, he shocked critics a few weeks before the 1980 November election, when he endorsed the front runner, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
over the fledgling presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. With an inevitable Republican victory, Dr. Abernathy said that he felt that he had to endorse Reagan, so that African Americans might gain some respect in that political party. After the disappointing performance of the Reagan Administration on Civil Rights and other areas, Dr. Abernathy withdrew his endorsement of Reagan in 1984, remaining a Democrat until his death.
During his lifetime, Dr. Abernathy was honored with more than 300 awards and citations, including five Honorary Doctorate Degrees. He served as a representative on the National Council for the Aged, the World Commission on Hunger, the National NAACP, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the American Sociological Society, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union and on more than forty other organizations. An advocate of the Constitution's First Amendment for Religious Freedom, Dr. Abernathy served as Vice President along with Dr. Robert Grant and co-founded the American Freedom Coalition in 1980.
Abernathy testified, along with his executive associate, James Peterson of Berkeley,California, before the Congressional Hearings calling for the Extension of the Voting Rights Act, which has and continues to serve as the only legal method to ensure equal and fair voting practices in the Southern States, guaranteeing that everyone born in the United States of America, regardless of race, is entitled to full citizenship and the right to vote.
In the 1980s, the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
hired Dr. Abernathy as a spokesperson to protest the news media's use of the term "Moonies
Moonies
Moonie is a nickname sometimes used to refer to members of the Unification Church. This is derived from the name of the church's founder Sun Myung Moon, and was first used in 1974 by the American media. Church members have used the word "Moonie", including Sun Myung Moon, President of the...
", which they compared with the word "Nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
". Abernathy also served as vice president of the Unification Church-affiliated group American Freedom Coalition, and served on two Unification Church boards of directors.
In 1989, Harper Collins published Abernathy’s autobiography, “And The Walls Came Tumbling Down.” It was his final accounting of his close friendship—indeed, partnership—with Martin Luther King, Jr. and their work in the Civil Rights Movement.
Death
Abernathy died at Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital, from two blood clots that traveled to his heart and lungs, five weeks after his 64th birthday on the morning of April 17, 1990.Legacy and honors
Abernathy received many awards, including honorary degrees from Long Island UniversityLong Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
in New York, Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
in Atlanta, Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1833, the college is among the 100 oldest in the country. Today, it produces more Peace Corps volunteers per capita than any other U.S...
in Michigan, and his Alma Mater, Alabama State University in Montgomery.
Interstate 20
Interstate 20
Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles from near Kent, Texas, at Interstate 10 to Florence, South Carolina, at Interstate 95...
Ralph David Abernathy Freeway, Abernathy Road and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard of Atlanta were named in his honor.
His son, Ralph David Abernathy, III, is a social activist who heads a community foundation which funds education and health and wellness programs in African American communities, as well as efforts toward prison reform.
Marriage and family
Abernathy and his wife, Juanita Jones Abernathy, had five children. Ralph David Abernathy Jr. died in 1953. Juandalynn R. Abernathy is an opera singer living in Germany. Donzaleigh AbernathyDonzaleigh Abernathy
Donzaleigh Abernathy is an American actress, producer, director and writer.-Filmography:*Murder in Mississippi -- Sue Brown*Ghost Dad -- E.R...
is a noted actress, author and public speaker of Los Angeles, California. Rev. Ralph David Abernathy III, a former Georgia State Senator and Member of the State House of Representatives, resides in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Attorney Kwame Luthuli Abernathy lives in Atlanta.
Abernathy is entombed in Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.
See also
- American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans...
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
- List of civil rights leaders
- Timeline of the American Civil Rights MovementTimeline of the American Civil Rights MovementThis is a timeline of African-American Civil Rights Movement.-Pre-17th century:1565*unknown – The colony of St...
Further reading
- Garrow, David: The Walking city: the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956; Carlson; 1989; ISBN 0-926019-03-1
- "The Natural History of A Social Movement: The Montgomery Improvement Association" by Ralph D. Abernathy
External links
- Booknotes interview with Abernathy on And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, October 29, 1989.
- Ralph Abernathy article, Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Ralph Abernathy Biography, The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany
- The Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists includes video, pictures and materials of Dr. Abernathy during Selma to Montgomery March
- Ralph Abernathy on the WGBH series The Ten O'Clock News.