Ralph Abernathy Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Reverend
Birth Name:David Abernathy
Birth Date:11 March 1926
Birth Place:Linden, Alabama, U.S.
Death Place:Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Office1:2nd President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Term Start1:1968
Term End1:1977
Predecessor1:Martin Luther King Jr.
Successor1:Joseph Lowery
Occupation:Clergyman, activist
Party:Democratic
Children:5, including Ralph III and Donzaleigh
Spouse:Juanita Jones Abernathy
Branch:United States Army
Battles:World War II
Rank:Platoon sergeant

Ralph David Abernathy Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. He collaborated with King and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968; he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.,[1] as well as other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).

In 1971, Abernathy addressed the United Nations speaking about world peace. He also assisted in brokering a deal between the FBI and American Indian Movement protestors during the Wounded Knee incident of 1973. He retired from his position as president of the SCLC in 1977 and became president emeritus. Later that year he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 5th district of Georgia. He later founded the Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development, and he testified before the U.S. Congress in support of extending the Voting Rights Act in 1982.

In 1989, Abernathy wrote And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, a controversial autobiography about his and King's involvement in the civil rights movement. Abernathy eventually became less active in politics and returned to his work as a minister. He died of heart disease on April 17, 1990. His tombstone is engraved with the words "I tried".

Early life, family, and education

Abernathy, the 10th of William L. and Louivery Valentine Abernathy (Bell)'s 12 children,[2] was born on March 11, 1926, on their 500acres family farm in Linden, Alabama.[3] [4] [5] Abernathy's father was the first African-American to vote in Marengo County, Alabama, and the first to serve on a grand jury there. Abernathy attended Linden Academy (a Baptist school founded by the First Mt. Pleasant District Association). At Linden Academy, Abernathy led his first demonstrations to improve the livelihoods of his fellow students.[6]

During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army advancing in rank becoming platoon sergeant before being discharged.[7] Afterwards he enrolled at Alabama State University using the benefits from the G.I. Bill, which he earned with his service.[8] As a sophomore, he was elected president of the student council, and led a successful hunger strike to raise the quality of the food served on the campus.[8] While still a college student, Abernathy announced his call to the ministry, which he had envisioned since he was a small boy growing up in a devout Baptist family. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1948 and preached his first sermon on Mother's Day (in honor of his recently deceased mother). In 1950 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[4] During the summer of 1950 Abernathy hosted a radio show and became the first black disc jockey on a white radio station in Montgomery, Alabama.[9] In the fall, he went to Atlanta University earning a Master of Arts degree in sociology with high honors in 1951.[8] [4] While enrolled at Alabama State Abernathy pledged becoming an initiated brother of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

He began his professional career in 1951, when he was appointed as the dean of men at Alabama State University.[10] Later in the same year, he became the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church, the largest black church in Montgomery; he held the position for ten years.[4] [10] [11]

He married Juanita Odessa Jones of Uniontown, Alabama, on August 31, 1952. Together they had five children: Ralph David Abernathy Jr., Juandalynn Ralpheda, Donzaleigh Avis, Ralph David Abernathy III, and Kwame Luthuli Abernathy.[12] [13] Their first child, Ralph Abernathy Jr., died suddenly on August 18, 1953, less than two days after his birth on August 16, while their other children lived on to adulthood.[13] His grandson, Micah Abernathy, is currently an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons.[14]

In 1954, Abernathy met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whoat the timewas just becoming a pastor himself at a nearby church.[15] Abernathy mentored King and the two men eventually became close friends.[15]

Civil rights activism

Montgomery bus boycott

After the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, Abernathy, then a member of the Montgomery NAACP), collaborated with King to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which organized the Montgomery bus boycott.[16] [17] Along with fellow English professor Jo Ann Robinson, they called for and distributed flyers asking the black citizens of Montgomery to stay off the buses.[18] The boycott attracted national attention, and a federal court case that ended on December 17, 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Browder v. Gayle, upheld an earlier District Court decision that the bus segregation was unconstitutional.[19] The 381-day transit boycott, challenging the "Jim Crow" segregation laws, had been successful.[20] And on December 20, 1956, the boycott came to an end.[21]

After the boycotts, Abernathy's home and church were bombed. His family were barely able to escape their home, but they were unharmed. Abernathy's church, Mt. Olive Church, Bell Street Church, and the home of Robert Graetz were also bombed on that evening, while King, Abernathy, and 58 other black leaders from the south were meeting at the Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration, in Atlanta.[22] [23] [4]

Southern Christian Leadership Conference and support of Freedom Riders

On January 11, 1957, after a two-day-long meeting, the Southern Leaders Conference on Transportation and Non-violent Integration was founded.[24] On February 14, 1957, the conference convened again in New Orleans. During that meeting, they changed the group's name to the Southern Leadership Conference and appointed the following executive board: King, president; Charles Kenzie Steele, vice president; Abernathy, financial secretary-treasurer; T. J. Jemison, secretary; I. M. Augustine, general counsel.[25] [26] On August 8, 1957, the Southern Leadership Conference held its first convention, in Montgomery.[27] They changed the conference's name a final time to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and decided to start voter registration drives for black people across the south.[27] [28]

On May 20, 1961, the Freedom Riders stopped in Montgomery while on their way from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans to protest the still segregated buses across the south.[29] Many of the Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob once they arrived at the Montgomery bus station, causing several of the riders to be hospitalized.[29] The following night Abernathy and King set up an event in support of the Freedom Riders, where King would make an address, at Abernathy's church.[30] More than 1,500 people came to the event that night.[31] [32] The church was soon surrounded by a mob of white segregationists who laid siege on the church.[33] [34] King, from inside the church, called the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and pleaded for help from the federal government.[32] There was a group of United States Marshals sent there to protect the event, but they were too few in number to protect the church from the angry mob, who had begun throwing rocks and bricks through the windows of the church.[35] Reinforcements with riot experience, from the Marshals service, were sent in to help defend the perimeter.[35] By the next morning, the Governor of Alabama, after being called by Kennedy, sent in the Alabama National Guard, and the mob was finally dispersed.[32] After the success of the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville, Alabama in 1961, King insisted that Abernathy assume the pastorate of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta; Abernathy moved his family from Montgomery becoming the pastor in 1962.[4]

The King/Abernathy partnership spearheaded successful nonviolent movements in Montgomery; Albany, Georgia; Birmingham, Mississippi, Washington D.C., Selma, Alabama; St. Augustine, Florida; Chicago, and Memphis. King and Abernathy journeyed together, often sharing the same hotel rooms, and leisure times with their wives, children, family, and friends. And they were both jailed 17 times together, for their involvement in the movement.

During Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination

On April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple, Abernathy introduced King before he made his last public address; King said at the beginning of his now famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech:

As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you, and Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world.[36]

The following day, April 4, 1968, Abernathy was with King in the room (Room 306) they shared at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. At 6:01 p.m. while Abernathy was inside the room getting cologne, King was shot while standing outside on the balcony. Once the shot was fired Abernathy ran out to the balcony and cradled King in his arms as he lay unconscious.[7] [37] [38] Abernathy accompanied King to St. Joseph's Hospital within fifteen minutes of the shooting.[39] The doctors performed an emergency surgery, but he never regained consciousness.[40] King was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. at age 39.[41]

Leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Until King's assassination, Abernathy had served as Southern Christian Leadership Conference's first Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President At-Large.[42] After King's death, Abernathy assumed the presidency of the SCLC.[4] One of his first roles was to take up the role of leading a march to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis which King and Abernathy had planned to attend before King's assassination.[43] In May 1968, Abernathy led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.[44]

Protest at NASA

On the eve of the launch of Apollo 11, on July 15, 1969, Abernathy arrived at Cape Kennedy with several hundred members of the poor people campaign to protest against the spending by government on space exploration, while many Americans remained poor.[45] 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".[46] Paine told Abernathy that the advances in space exploration were "child's play" compared to the "tremendously difficult human problems" of society Abernathy was discussing. Despite protesting against the launch, Abernathy acknowledged that he was "profoundly moved by the nation's achievements in space and the heroism of the three men embarking for the moon", but added that "What we can do for space and exploration we demand that we do for starving people."[47] Later in 1969 Abernathy also took part in a labor struggle in Charleston, South Carolina, on behalf of the hospital workers of the local union 1199B, which led to a living wage increase and improved working conditions for thousands of hospital workers.[48]

Wounded Knee

In 1973, Abernathy helped negotiate 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.[49] [50] [51]

Abernathy remained president of the SCLC for nine years following King's death in 1968.[4] After King's death the organization lost the popularity it had under his leadership.[52] By the time Abernathy left the organization the SCLC had become indebted, and critics stated that it wasn't as imaginative as the SCLC led by Dr. King.[53] In 1977 Abernathy resigned from his leadership role at the SCLC, and was bestowed the title president emeritus.[4]

Political career and later activism

Abernathy addressed the United Nations in 1971; he spoke about world peace.[54] He was also a member of the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.[55] In 1977, he ran unsuccessfully for Georgia's 5th Congressional District seat, losing to Congressman Wyche Fowler.[56] 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 for underprivileged blacks.[3]

In 1979, Abernathy endorsed Senator Edward M. Kennedy's candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.[57] However, he shocked critics a few weeks before the 1980 November election, when he endorsed the front-runner, Ronald Reagan, over the struggling presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter.[58] Abernathy stated of his endorsement: "The Republican Party has too long ignored us and the Democratic Party has taken us for granted and so since all of my colleagues and the latter in various places across the country were supporting the Democratic Party, I felt that I should support Ronald Reagan."[59] Abernathy withdrew his endorsement of Reagan in 1984, citing his disappointment with the Reagan Administration on civil rights and other areas.[60]

In 1982, 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.[61]

Documents declassified in 2017 show that Abernathy was on the National Security Agency watchlist because of FBI leadership's hatred of the civil rights movement.[62]

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

In late 1989, HarperCollins published Abernathy's autobiography, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.[4] It was his final published accounting of his close partnership with King and their work in the civil rights movement. In it he revealed King's marital infidelity, stating that King had sexual relations with two women on the night of April 3, 1968 (after his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech earlier that day).[63] The book's revelations became the source of much controversy, as did Abernathy.[63] Jesse Jackson and other civil rights activists made a statement in October 1989—after the book's release—that the book was "slander" and that "brain surgery" must have altered Abernathy's perception.[63] [64]

Unification Church

In the 1980s, the Unification Church hired Abernathy as a spokesperson to protest the news media's use of the term "Moonies", which they compared with the word "nigger".[65] Abernathy also served as vice president of the Unification Church-affiliated group American Freedom Coalition,[66] [67] and served on two Unification Church boards of directors.[68]

Death

Abernathy died at Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital on the morning of April 17, 1990, from two blood clots that traveled to his heart and lungs, at the age of 64.[69] After his death George H. W. Bush, then-President of the United States issued the following statement:

Barbara and I join with all Americans to mourn the passing of the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a great leader in the struggle for civil rights for all Americans and a tireless campaigner for justice.[69]

He is entombed in the Chapel Mausoleum of Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta.[70] At Abernathy's behest, his tomb has the simple inscription: "I TRIED."[64]

Tributes and portrayals

During his lifetime Abernathy was honored with more than 300 awards and citations, including five honorary doctoral degrees.[71] [72] He received a Doctor of Divinity from Morehouse College, a Doctor of Divinity from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, a Doctor of Laws from Allen University of South Carolina, a Doctor of Laws from Long Island University in New York, and a Doctor of Laws from Alabama State University.

Abernathy was portrayed by Ernie Lee Banks in the 1978 miniseries King.[77] He was also portrayed by Terrence Howard in the 2001 HBO film Boycott, Colman Domingo in the 2014 film Selma,[78] and Dohn Norwood in the 2016 film All the Way.[79]

Works

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lewis . Femi . How Did Ralph Abernathy Work Alongside MLK During the Civil Rights Movement?. April 15, 2021. ThoughtCo. en.
  2. Web site: Abernathy, Ralph David . Williams . Kenneth H. . American National Biography . 2000 . Oxford University Press . 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1501076 . August 22, 2022.
  3. Web site: Abernathy, Ralph David . Stanford University . The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute . April 18, 2017 . December 3, 2019.
  4. Encyclopedia: Dale H. . Hoiberg . Encyclopædia Britannica . Abernathy, Ralph David . 15th . 2010 . Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. . I: A-ak Bayes . Chicago, Illinois . 978-1-59339-837-8 . 29 .
  5. Book: Who Was Who in America, with World Notables, v. 10: 1989–1993. 1993. Marquis Who's Who. New Providence, NJ. 0837902207. 1. Abernathy, Ralph David.
  6. Web site: Ralph Abernathy Biography . Advameg, Inc. . March 13, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093559/http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Abernathy-Ralph.html . April 2, 2015 . mdy-all .
  7. News: Rev. Ralph Abernathy: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Overlooked 'Civil Rights Twin' . Huffington Post . January 19, 2015 . Religion News Service . March 12, 2015 . Banks, Adelle . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150318072139/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/19/rev-ralph-abernathy-civil-rights_n_6482176.html . March 18, 2015 . mdy-all .
  8. Book: The Human Tradition in the New South . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers . Klotter, James . 2005 . 176 . 1461600960 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150514174754/https://books.google.com/books?id=nzlEdUaG_xkC&lpg=PA177&ots=61LvhMba4z&dq=%22ralph%20david%20abernathy%20jr%22&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q=%22ralph%20david%20abernathy%20jr%22&f=false . May 14, 2015 . mdy-all .
  9. Book: Abernathy, Ralph . And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography . Harper & Row . 1989 . 0060161922 . 1st . New York . 88 . en.
  10. Web site: American National Biography Online: Abernathy, Ralph David . American National Biography Online . February 2000 . March 14, 2015 . Williams, Kenneth . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150405043351/http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-01076.html . April 5, 2015 . mdy-all .
  11. Web site: Ralph Abernathy . PBS . WGBH . March 13, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150317074739/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/ralph-abernathy . March 17, 2015 . mdy-all .
  12. Web site: International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame — Juanita Abernathy . National Park Service . nps.gov . March 13, 2015.
  13. Book: The Human Tradition in the New South . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers . Klotter, James . 2005 . 177 . 1461600960 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150514174754/https://books.google.com/books?id=nzlEdUaG_xkC&lpg=PA177&ots=61LvhMba4z&dq=%22ralph%20david%20abernathy%20jr%22&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q=%22ralph%20david%20abernathy%20jr%22&f=false . May 14, 2015 . mdy-all .
  14. Web site: Young . Lindsey . The Hero that Micah Abernathy Never Met . Vikings Official Team Website . August 30, 2022 . vikings.
  15. Web site: Ralph D. Abernathy Biography . Bio . A&E Television Networks, LLC . March 13, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150312214116/http://www.biography.com/people/ralph-d-abernathy-9174397#early-years . March 12, 2015 . mdy-all .
  16. Book: Peter Brock (historian) . Peter . Brock . Nigel . Young . Pacifism in the Twentieth Century . Syracuse University Press . New York . 1999 . 0-8156-8125-9 . 232.
  17. News: Ralph Abernathy's widow says march anniversary overlooks her husband's role . The Washington Post . August 31, 2013 . March 13, 2015 . Fletcher, Michael . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150529045004/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wife-of-civil-rights-leader-abernathy-says-lack-of-invite-on-march-anniversary-is-a-slight/2013/08/31/89d71028-0a9f-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html . May 29, 2015 . mdy-all .
  18. Web site: Leaflet, "Don't Ride the Bus" . Stanford University . The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute . December 2, 1955 . March 15, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155441/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/leaflet_dont_ride_the_bus_come_to_a_mass_meeting_on_5_december/ . April 2, 2015 . mdy-all .
  19. Book: The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr: Threshold of a new decade, January 1959 – December 1960 . University of California Press . King, Martin . Holloran, Peter . Luker, Ralph . Russell, Penny . 2005 . 127 . 0520242394 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150514165836/https://books.google.com/books?id=TU_HozbJSC8C&lpg=PA127&ots=TXp5cDtFRX&dq=%22352%20U.S.%20950%22%20(1956)&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q=%22352%20U.S.%20950%22%20(1956)&f=false . May 14, 2015 . mdy-all .
  20. News: 50th Anniversary of Montgomery Bus Boycott . Democracy Now . December 1, 2005 . March 15, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150313124551/http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/1/50th_anniversary_of_montgomery_bus_boycott . March 13, 2015 . mdy-all .
  21. Web site: Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) . November 24, 2007 . BlackPast.org . March 15, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150326031450/http://www.blackpast.org/aah/montgomery-bus-boycott-1955-56 . March 26, 2015 . mdy-all .
  22. Book: ShakesAaseng . African-American Religious Leaders, Rev. ed..
  23. Web site: The Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project: From Ralph Abernathy . Stanford University . The Martin Luther King Jr. Research Institute . May 28, 1958 . March 17, 2015 . Abernathy, Ralph . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110506203901/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/28-May-1958_FromAbernathy.pdf . May 6, 2011 . mdy-all .
  24. A Statement to the South and Nation . Southern Leaders Conference on Transportation and Non-violent Integration . January 11, 1957 . March 17, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093020/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/statement-south-and-nation-1 . April 2, 2015 . mdy-all .
  25. Web site: Our History . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150206131140/http://sclcnational.org/our-history/ . February 6, 2015 . March 17, 2015 . Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
  26. Encyclopedia: Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) . Encyclopedia of Alabama . January 12, 2009 . March 17, 2015 . Brooks, F. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150328204223/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1909 . March 28, 2015 . mdy-all .
  27. Book: The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr: Threshold of a new decade, January 1959 – December 1960 . University of California Press . King, Martin . Holloran, Peter . Luker, Ralph . Russell, Penny . 2005 . 227 . 0520242394 . Carson, Clayborne . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150515112346/https://books.google.com/books?id=TU_HozbJSC8C&lpg=PA227&ots=TXp5fzxzVZ&dq=southern%20christian%20leadership%20conference%20%22august%201957%22&pg=PA227 . May 15, 2015 . mdy-all .
  28. Book: The New South, 1945–1980 . LSU Press . Bartley, Numan . 1995 . 183 . 080711944X . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150514171144/https://books.google.com/books?id=j4dV9NHvdIsC&lpg=PA183&ots=rVg1EKjY6b&dq=southern%20christian%20leadership%20conference%20%22august%201957%22&pg=PA183 . May 14, 2015 . mdy-all .
  29. Web site: Mobs in Montgomery AL . Tougaloo College . Civil Rights Movement Archive . March 17, 2015 . live . http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20100710102808/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis61.htm#1961frmont . July 10, 2010 . mdy-all .
  30. Web site: The Montgomery Improvement Association Salutes the "Freedom Riders" . The United States Marshals Service . The Montgomery Improvement Association . May 21, 1961 . March 17, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114423/http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/mlk_doc.pdf . March 4, 2016 . mdy-all .
  31. Web site: Ralph Abernathy — Freedom Rider . WGBH . PBS . March 17, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150317074739/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/ralph-abernathy . March 17, 2015 . mdy-all .
  32. Web site: On This Day: First Baptist Church Under Siege . Special Collections Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement . May 21, 2012 . March 17, 2015 . Shay, Alison . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150120141108/https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/blog/index.php/2012/05/21/on-this-day-first-baptist-church-under-siege/ . January 20, 2015 . mdy-all .
  33. Encyclopedia: Ralph David Abernathy . Encyclopedia of Alabama . March 14, 2007 . March 17, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150407132743/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1110 . April 7, 2015 . mdy-all .
  34. Web site: Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez Speaks at the All People's Program Honoring the Freedom Riders . The United States Department of Justice . May 24, 2011 . March 17, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141113052231/http://www.justice.gov/crt/opa/pr/speeches/2011/crt-speech-110524.html . November 13, 2014 . mdy-all .
  35. Web site: An Emergency Call to Montgomery . The United States Marshals Service . March 17, 2015 . Turk, Dave . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402134052/http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/mlk.htm . April 2, 2015 . mdy-all .
  36. Web site: I've Been to the Mountaintop. King. Martin. 3 April 1968. The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. Stanford University. 19 March 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150411040853/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/ive_been_to_the_mountaintop/. April 11, 2015. mdy-all.
  37. Book: The Human Tradition in the New South . Rowman & Littlefield Publisher . Klotter, James . 2005 . 188 . 1461600960 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150515112426/https://books.google.com/books?id=nzlEdUaG_xkC&lpg=PA188&ots=61LvgQdeby&dq=abernathy%20king%20assassination%20arms&pg=PA188#v=onepage&q=abernathy%20king%20assassination%20arms&f=false . May 15, 2015 . mdy-all .
  38. News: Ralph David Abernathy embraces legacy. Adelson. Andrea. February 29, 2012. ESPN. March 19, 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402205122/http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7628616/cincinnati-bearcats-ralph-david-abernathy-iv-follows-family-footsteps. April 2, 2015.
  39. Book: Dorrien, Gary . Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the White Social Gospel . January 10, 2018 . Yale University Press . 9780300231359 . 433 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=rjlFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA433&lpg=PA433&dq=Abernathy+accompanied+King+to+St.+Joseph%2527s+Hospital&source=bl&ots=_Eh8IjSCdi&sig=-iEs4kpELxmK9zIGllRXRCkSZiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjis5qokazZAhURzmMKHXLXDKsQ6AEIOjAC#v=onepage&q=Abernathy%2520accompanied%2520King%2520to%2520St.%2520Joseph's%2520Hospital&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  40. Web site: . November 11, 2008 . Society in Civil Rights Movement: "Black Power" Era . en . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202724/https://www.shmoop.com/civil-rights-black-power/society.html . February 17, 2018 .
  41. Web site: Findings on MLK Assassination . August 15, 2016 . National Archives . en . February 18, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171203224058/https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-2a.html . December 3, 2017 .
  42. Book: Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture . 2012 . ABC-CLIO . 9780313329449 . 4 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=JscEZeXBsZYC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=Abernathy+had+served+as+SCLC%2527s+first+Financial+Secretary%2FTreasurer+and+Vice+President+At-Large.&source=bl&ots=S51klMMNKC&sig=muZtFwNXl3MMKo72UbGlD05N0hk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid9u67kqzZAhVD6GMKHYvUBeEQ6AEINDAB . March 16, 2018 .
  43. News: 'I Am a Man': The ugly Memphis sanitation workers' strike that led to MLK's assassination . Brown . DeNeen L. . February 12, 2018 . The Washington Post . February 17, 2018 . en-US . 0190-8286 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180212191302/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/02/12/i-am-a-man-the-1968-memphis-sanitation-workers-strike-that-led-to-mlks-assassination/ . February 12, 2018 .
  44. News: Poor People's Campaign: A Dream Unfulfilled . NPR.org . February 17, 2018 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180208121912/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91626373 . February 8, 2018 .
  45. Tribbe . Matthew David . August 2010 . The Rocket and the Tarot: The Apollo Moon Landings and American Culture at the Dawn of the Seventies . PhD dissertation . Austin, Texas . The University of Texas at Austin . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217120923/https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1584/TRIBBE-DISSERTATION.pdf.txt?sequence=5 . February 17, 2018 . February 17, 2018.
  46. Book: Otto, Shawn Lawrence . Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America . October 11, 2011 . Rodale . 9781609613204 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=6pMqCjVynG0C&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=%2522abernathy%2522+met+Thomas+O.+Paine,+-wordpress+-blogspot+-facebook&source=bl&ots=_4dGdBUDaL&sig=EtUl5xC3QnzDMZ2XspX3QGCm8p4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj97sW296zZAhVY0GMKHdoWAzAQ6AEIOzAC#v=onepage&q=%2522abernathy%2522%2520met%2520Thomas%2520O.%2520Paine%252C%2520-wordpress%2520-blogspot%2520-facebook&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  47. Web site: Niiler. Eric. July 11, 2019. Why Civil Rights Activists Protested the Moon Landing. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201101070836/https://www.history.com/news/apollo-11-moon-landing-launch-protests. November 1, 2020. December 28, 2020. History.
  48. Web site: A Movement Gains Momentum · The Charleston Hospital Workers Movement, 1968–1969 · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative . ldhi.library.cofc.edu . en-US . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180218024106/http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/charleston_hospital_workers_mo/movement_gains_momentum . February 18, 2018 .
  49. News: Leaders of the civil rights movement . October 16, 2017 . CBS News . April 4, 2018 . en.
  50. Book: Lehman, Christopher P. . Power, Politics, and the Decline of the Civil Rights Movement: A Fragile Coalition, 1967–1973 . July 29, 2014 . ABC-CLIO . 9781440832666 . 296 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=sIaMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA295&lpg=PA295&dq=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&source=bl&ots=EtANiaQa3J&sig=QxsGY250SDeIgRP0NjQ8FYXhYIA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjeyb-W-qzZAhVD2WMKHTA5A2UQ6AEINDAE#v=onepage&q=%2522Abernathy%2522%2520%2522Wounded%2520Knee%2522&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  51. Book: Smith, Sherry L. . Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power . May 3, 2012 . Oxford University Press . 9780199855605 . 199 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=6N9oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&source=bl&ots=Ga7N7P7wqe&sig=QQx3-qnq2kx9mwd47bKiPPqAVIU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjeyb-W-qzZAhVD2WMKHTA5A2UQ6AEIMTAD#v=onepage&q=%2522Abernathy%2522%2520%2522Wounded%2520Knee%2522&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  52. Web site: Ralph Abernathy Biography – life, family, children, mother, son, book, information, born, college, time . www.notablebiographies.com . en . April 3, 2018.
  53. News: Ralph David Abernathy, Rights Pioneer, Is Dead at 64 . April 3, 2018.
  54. Web site: Ralph Abernathy: King's Right Hand Man . Legacy.com . March 11, 2011 . March 13, 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113219/http://www.legacy.com/news/legends-and-legacies/ralph-abernathy-kings-right-hand-man/572/ . April 2, 2015 . mdy-all .
  55. Web site: 1965 Annual Board Meeting for SCLC . The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change . April 2, 1965 . www.thekingcenter.org . en . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180218090223/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/1965-annual-board-meeting-sclc . February 18, 2018 .
  56. News: A Free-for-All Race for Young's Seat . Brown . Warren . February 15, 1977 . The Washington Post . February 17, 2018 . en-US . 0190-8286 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202954/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/02/15/a-free-for-all-race-for-youngs-seat/88044587-029a-42fe-9489-a51293dca1e3/ . February 17, 2018 .
  57. News: Abernathy Endorses Reagan, Raps Carter 'Empty Promises' . Cannon . Lou . October 17, 1980 . The Washington Post . February 17, 2018 . en-US . 0190-8286 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202948/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/17/abernathy-endorses-reagan-raps-carter-empty-promises/5f1075d6-a858-4bf0-b513-5f285d71dc99/ . February 17, 2018 .
  58. News: Herzog. James P.. October 17, 1980. Abernathy Tells Blacks: Reconsider Carter Vote. The Pittsburgh Press. January 16, 2015.
  59. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down . October 29, 1989 . Video . February 17, 2018 . www.booknotes.org . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202811/http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/9718-1/Rev-Ralph-David-Abernathy . February 17, 2018 .
  60. Web site: Walls Tumbling, Oct 23 1989 . C-SPAN.org . en-US . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231903/https://www.c-span.org/video/?9718-1%2Fand-walls-tumbling-down&start=2655&noClip= . March 16, 2018 .
  61. Book: Darling, Marsha . The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Race, Voting, and Redistricting . October 31, 2013 . Routledge . 9781135730178 . 1395 . en.
  62. News: National Security Agency Tracking of U.S. Citizens – "Questionable Practices" from 1960s & 1970s . January 3, 2020 . National Security Archive . September 25, 2017.
  63. News: A Bitter Battle Erupts Over the Last Hours of Martin Luther King . People Magazine . October 30, 1989 . March 21, 2015 . Kunen, James . Sanderson, Jane . Nugent, Tom . Velez, Elizabeth . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150320114153/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20121528,00.html . March 20, 2015 . mdy-all .
  64. News: Ralph Abernathy's Judgment Day With His Autobiography, He Hoped To Secure His Place In Civil-rights History. But Two Pages Of The Book Proved To Be His Undoing — And Earned Him The Label Of Judas.. Capuzzo. Mike. December 5, 1989. The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 21, 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152014/http://articles.philly.com/1989-12-05/news/26157645_1_abernathy-white-marble-crypt-judas. April 2, 2015.
  65. Book: Gorenfeld, John . Bad Moon Rising . PoliPointPress . 2008 . 96 . 978-0-9794822-3-6 .
  66. News: Leigh . Andrew . Inside Moon's Washington — The private side of public relations improving the image, looking for clout . . B1 . October 15, 1989.
  67. News: Nix . Shann . Church seeks new image . . B3 . August 10, 1989.
  68. News: Unification Church funnels millions to U.S. conservatives . . 4A . The Dallas Morning News Company . December 20, 1987.
  69. News: Ralph David Abernathy, Rights Pioneer, Is Dead at 64 . . April 18, 1990 . August 1, 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100531092121/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0311.html . May 31, 2010 .
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  72. Book: Michael, Mr . Why I Am so Proud to Be a Black Man: The Many Reasons to Uplift and Celebrate Our Uniqueness in the Universe . March 7, 2013 . iUniverse . 9781475979299 . 149 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=N33iUl4ZQWgC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=Abernathy+was+honored+with+more+than+300+awards+and+citations,&source=bl&ots=E8_L74g3k3&sig=TfeY4Juoa-4_Np4AOowNMitYVLQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgs5SSg63ZAhUC5WMKHQsABUgQ6AEINTAB#v=onepage&q=Abernathy%2520was%2520honored%2520with%2520more%2520than%2520300%2520awards%2520and%2520citations%252C&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  73. Web site: Ralph David Abernathy Hall – College of Education - Alabama State University - pwba-architects.com . pwba-architects.com . en-US . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180218024130/http://www.pwba-architects.com/portfolio/alabama-state-university-college-education . February 18, 2018 .
  74. News: Section Of I-20 Named In Honor Of Rights Leader . tribunedigital-orlandosentinel . February 17, 2018 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202818/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-04-20/news/9104200972_1_ralph-david-abernathy-perimeter-interstate . February 17, 2018 .
  75. Web site: Man With a Mission . CityBeat Cincinnati . en . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180218090126/https://www.citybeat.com/home/article/13008452/man-with-a-mission . February 18, 2018 .
  76. Web site: International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame – Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. . www.nps.gov . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217203044/https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/Ralph_Abernathy.htm . February 17, 2018 .
  77. Book: Historical Dictionary of African American Television . Fearn-Banks . Kathleen . Burford-Johnson . Anne . October 3, 2014 . Rowman & Littlefield . 9780810879171 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=wxa7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA254&lpg=PA254&dq=Abernathy+is+played+by+Ernie+Lee+Banks+in+the+1978+miniseries+King.&source=bl&ots=KRpZOL0WmO&sig=ftr7YQIrxrGj52p_f6luVpkGKNM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG8OCIh63ZAhUBIWMKHaDRDCIQ6AEIQzAE#v=onepage&q=Abernathy%2520is%2520played%2520by%2520Ernie%2520Lee%2520Banks%2520in%2520the%25201978%2520miniseries%2520King.&f=false . March 16, 2018 .
  78. News: How Accurate Is Selma? . Lockett . Dee . December 24, 2014 . Slate . February 17, 2018 . en-US . 1091-2339 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171122065233/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/12/24/selma_fact_vs_fiction_how_true_ava_duvernay_s_new_movie_is_to_the_1965_marches.html . November 22, 2017 .
  79. Web site: All The Way – Ralph Abernathy . HBO . en . February 17, 2018 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180217202940/https://www.hbo.com/movies/all-the-way/cast-and-crew/ralph-abernathy . February 17, 2018 .

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