Introduction
(1926–90). A clergyman by profession, Ralph Abernathy was one of the leaders of the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The aim of this movement was to end discrimination against blacks and to ensure equal rights for all. Abernathy was the closest associate and adviser of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Early life
Ralph David Abernathy was born on March 11, 1926, in Linden, Alabama. He was the son of a successful farmer. In 1948 he became a minister in the Baptist church. In 1950 he graduated from Alabama State University with a degree in mathematics. Later, Abernathy became interested in sociology. In 1951 he received a degree in sociology from Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Career
In 1951 Abernathy became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. A few years later, he met Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1955–56, the two men worked together to oppose laws that kept blacks and whites separated. They first organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. Before that, blacks and whites were forced to travel in separate parts of the bus on the basis of their color. During the boycott, blacks refused to ride the buses at all. Because of the boycott the system was changed so that blacks had the same rights as whites on the buses. This nonviolent boycott marked the beginning of the civil rights movement. Over the next 20 years, the movement led to many more changes.
In 1957 King and Abernathy founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to organize a nonviolent struggle against segregation throughout the South. In 1961 Abernathy moved to Atlanta. In 1968, after King was assassinated, Abernathy became president of the SCLC.
Retirement
In 1977 Ralph Abernathy resigned from the post of president of the SCLC. He then resumed his work as the pastor of a Baptist church in Atlanta. In 1989 his autobiography And the Walls Came Tumbling Down was published. Ralph David Abernathy died on April 17, 1990, in Atlanta.
