1. www.postersession.com
Introduction
When we think about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin
Luther King Jr. is the first thing that pops into our head.
As big of an impact Martin Luther King was, he did not do
everything alone. As it was shown in the movie Selma, he
had help along the way. One of his biggest helps was
one of his closest and dependable friends, Ralph
Abernathy. Just like Martin Luther King, he was also a
minister and a Civil Rights leader who contributed a lot to
the fight for equality.
Ralph Abernathy, 1968
Early Life and Education
He was born on March 11th
, 1926 around Linden, Alabama. He
attended Linden Academy for his high school. His family owned
a 500-acre farm in Marengo County. His father was a community
leader, serving as a head deacon for a local Baptist church and
he was the first black to be able to vote in the county. Ralph
Abernathy wanted to be in the ministry since he was young. He
said, “The preacher, after all, was the finest and most important
person around, someone who was accorded respect wherever
he went.” In 1944, Ralph Abernathy was drafted to the military.
Due to his rheumatic fever he caught while he was in Europe, he
returned home and attended Alabama State College. The GI Bill
paid for his education and he took advantage of the opportunity,
getting involved in student council and maintaining good grades.
He led boycotts around campus to improve the conditions of the
school. After he graduated Alabama State College, he attended
Atlanta College for a year to do his graduate and returned to
Alabama State College to get his dean of men. It was at Atlanta
University in a seminary class he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. together in stand off
against a white mob.
What Makes Them Notable
Like I said before, he was actively involved in college
organizations. At Alabama State College, he was president of
the Student Council and led various boycotts and protests
across campus to improve the on campus facilities. After his
years in college, he became a pastor at Montgomery’s First
Baptist Church by 1952. He was becoming a big name in the
community and soon became better friends with Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., establishing the dynamic duo. After Rosa
Parks got arrested, the organization of the Montgomery bus
boycott began. Dr. King led the boycott as Ralph Abernathy
was by his side. Despite King usually leading the organized
protest and overshadowing Abernathy’s work, Abernathy was
important in helping King. King had the philosophical ideas,
but Abernathy had the strategies and knew how to execute the
plans. Abernathy knew how to connect the lower and middle
class, unlike King, in a eloquent way. Him and King gained
success together, but at a price for danger. Both of their
houses were bombed and Abernathy was chased by a man
bearing weapons who claimed Abernathy slept with his wife.
Abernathy’s church was also bombed. When King moved to
Atlanta to be a pastor at his father’s church, Abernathy moved
him and his family to Atlanta as well to be a pastor at West
Hunter Street Baptist Church.
Ralph Abernathy as a Disc Jockey.
Legacy
Ralph Abernathy legacy was being King’s right hand man. He
was King’s closest friend and was always there by his side
from sitting next to him in a jail sail to being by him on his
deathbed. It was said Ralph Abernathy was the “few he could
rely on” and how King found “counsel, solace, and
perspective” with Abernathy around.
Ralph Abernathy Involvement
in Selma
Ralph was the pastor for the Selma Marches and was King’s right
hand man in leading it. He was vital to the movement and handled
huge responsibilities that King entrusted him with. One of them was
making an opening gambit- an appearance on Jan. 1 Emancipation
proclamation day in 1965.
Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. together.
Family Life
He married Juanita Odessa Jones on August 1952, and
despite their first child dying as an infant, they had four
others that grew to adulthood.
Ralph Abernathy and his wife Juanita
Odessa Jones
References
1.Abernathy, Ralph D. "Chapter 10/Selma." And the Walls
Came Tumbling Dow. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
297-361. Print.
1.Fay, Robert. "Abernathy, Ralph David." Africana: The
Encyclopedia of the African and African American
Experience, Second Edition. Ed. Kwame Anthony Appiah
and Henry Louis Gates Jr.. New York: Oxford UP, 2008.
Oxford African American Studies Center. Sun Jul 05
1.Wallach, Jennifer Jensen. "Abernathy, Ralph David."
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the
Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first
Century. Ed. Paul FinkelmanNew York: Oxford UP, 2008.
Oxford African American Studies Center. Sun Jul 05
