Ralph David Abernthy

Civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy (1926-1990) was the best friend and trusted assistant of Martin Luther King, Jr., whom he succeeded as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a nonviolent civil rights organization.

Ralph David Abernathy, one of 12 children, was born in Marengo County, Alabama, about 90 miles outside of Montgomery. Originally named David, he was nicknamed Ralph by one of his sisters after a favorite teacher. His father William, the son of a slave, supported his family as a sharecropper until he saved enough money to buy 500 acres of his own, upon which he built a prosperous self-sufficient farm. He eventually emerged as one of the leading African Americans in the county, serving as a deacon in his church and on the board of the local African American high school and becoming the first African American there who voted and served on the grand jury. Ralph aspired early on to become a preacher and was encouraged by his mother to pursue that ambition. Although Abernathy's father died when he was 16 years old, the young man was able to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Alabama State University and a Master's degree in sociology from Atlanta University in 1951. During this time he worked as the first African American DJ at a white Montgomery radio station. While attending college he was elected president of the student council and led successful protests for better cafeteria conditions and living quarters. He earned the respect of both students and administrators, and he was later hired as the school's dean of men.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Before obtaining his first degree, Abernathy was ordained as a Baptist minister and, after completing his education, served as minister at the Eastern star Baptist church in Demopolis, near his home town of Linden. When he was 26 he accepted a position as full time minister at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Three later, Martin Luther King accepted a call to another of Montgomery's leading African American churches, Dexter Avenue Baptist. During this time King and Abernathy became close friends.

In 1955 an African American seamstress from Montgomery named Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white passenger and she was arrested and later fined. This began an important historic phase of the civil right-movement. Through hurried meetings in their churches ministers, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), began a boycott of the city busses until all African Americans were assured better treatment. The ministers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)--a name suggested by Abernathy--to coordinate the boycott and voted a young minister named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. their president.

The MIA convinced African American taxi-cab drivers to take African American workers to their jobs for a ten cent fare. When the city government declared that practice illegal, those with cars formed carpools so that the boycotters wouldn't have to return to the busses. After 381 days, the boycott was over and the busses were completely desegregated, a decision enforced by a United States district court. During 1956 Abernathy and King had been in and out of jail and court, and toward the end of the boycott on January 10, 1957, Abernathy's home and church were bombed. By the time the boycott was over it had attracted national and international attention, and televised reports of the activities of the MIA encouraged African American protesters all over the South.

Nonviolent Civil Rights Movement

King and Abernathy's work together in the MIA commenced their career as partners in the civil rights struggle and sealed their close friendship, which lasted until King's assassination in 1968. Soon after the boycott they met with other African American clergymen in Atlanta to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and press for civil rights in all areas of life. King was elected president and Abernathy the secretary-treasurer. This group began to plan for a coordinated nonviolent civil rights movement throughout the South, the ultimate purpose of which would be to end segregation and to hasten the enactment of effective federal civil rights legislation. In the early 1960s when the civil rights movement began to intensify because of student lunch counter sit-ins, nonviolent demonstrations, and efforts to desegregate interstate busses and bus depots, Abernathy moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to become the pastor of West Hunter Baptist Church. In Atlanta he would be able to work more closely with the SCLC and King, who had returned to the city at an earlier date.

The SCLC attempted to coordinate a desegregation movement in Albany, Georgia, in December 1961, but were not as effective as they hoped to be with their work there. Abernathy was arrested along with King during the Albany demonstrations, but they were quickly released from jail because the city leaders did not want to attract national attention to conditions in the city. In the spring of 1963 the leaders of the SCLC began to coordinate their efforts to desegregate facilities in Birmingham, Alabama. Publicity about the rough treatment of African American demonstrators at the hand of Eugene "Bull" Conner, the city's director of public safety, directed the eyes of the world on that city's civil rights protest. Abernathy found himself in jail with King once again. More than 3,000 other African Americans in the city also endured periods of incarceration in order to dramatize their demands for equal rights. The Birmingham demonstrations were successful and the demands for desegregation of public facilities were agreed upon. In the wake of the demonstrations, desegregation programs commenced in over 250 southern cities. Thousands of schools, parks, pools, restaurants, and hotels were opened to all people regardless race.

March On Washington

The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, right, and Bishop Julian Smith flanking the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

Son Says He Will Seek Pardon for Civil Rights Leader

The success of the Birmingham demonstration also encouraged President John F. Kennedy to send a civil rights bill to Congress. In order to emphasize the need for the bill, leaders of all the nation's major civil rights organizations, including the SCLC, agreed to participate in a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C. The "March on Washington" on August 28, 1963, attracted over 250,000 African American and white demonstrators from all over The United States. By the next summer the Civil Rights Act had been signed into law, and a year later, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act had passed.

On April 4, 1968, during a strike by city sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, King was assassinated, and Abernathy succeeded him as the leader of the SCLC. Abernathy's first project was the completion of King's plan to hold a Poor People's Campaign in Washington during which white, African American, and Native American poor people would present their problems to President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Congress. Poor people moved into Washington in mule trains and on foot and erected "Resurrection City." Abernathy once again found himself in jail, this time for unlawful assembly. After the Poor People's Campaign, Abernathy continued to lead the SCLC, but the organization did not regain the popularity it held under King's leadership.

Abernathy resigned from the SCLC in 1977 and made an unsuccessful bid for the Georgia fifth district U.S. Congressional seat vacated by prominent African American statesman Andrew Young. Later, he formed an organization called Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development (FEED), designed to help train African Americans for better economic opportunities. He continued to carry out his ministerial duties at the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, and lectured throughout the United States. In 1989 Abernathy published his autobiography, And The Walls Come Tumbling Down (Harper, 1989), which garnered criticism from other civil rights leaders for its revelations about the alleged extramarital affairs of Martin Luther King.

Abernathy died of a heart attack on April 30, 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia.

abraham Lincoln

He was born in a log cabin and went to school for less than one year. But despite his humble background, Abraham Lincoln became one of the great presidents of the United States. As the 16th president, Lincoln ended slavery and held the nation together during the Civil War, America’s biggest and bloodiest crisis.

People often remarked on Lincoln’s striking looks. He was tall and thin with long arms and large hands. Lincoln wore a type of tall hat that looked like a stove pipe. Sometimes, he carried important papers under his hat. When Lincoln was running for president, he grew a beard after a young girl suggested it.

FRONTIER CHILD

Abraham Lincoln was born on the Kentucky frontier in 1809. Lincoln shared a one-room log cabin with his sister and parents. It had one door, one window, and a dirt floor. In 1816, the family moved to nearby Indiana. Lincoln’s mother died soon after.

Lincoln helped his father with the hard work on his family’s homestead. He dug wells, built pigpens, chopped down trees, and split fence rails. By the age of 19, he had grown tall and lean. He was a good wrestler and a fast runner.

There were few schools on the frontier. With so much work to do at home, there was little time for schooling. Lincoln mostly educated himself by reading borrowed books and newspapers.

POLITICIAN, LAWYER, FATHER

Lincoln’s family moved to Illinois in 1830. He found a job in the town of New Salem as a store clerk. In 1834, Lincoln won election to the Illinois State Legislature. It was the beginning of his political career.

Lincoln moved to Springfield, the state capital, and began to study law. He soon became a licensed attorney. In 1846, Lincoln won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. After his term in Congress ended, he became a respected lawyer in Illinois.

In Springfield, Lincoln met and married Mary Todd. She was born to a Kentucky slaveholding family. The couple had four boys. Three of the boys died before they reached adulthood. The children’s deaths brought the Lincolns much sorrow.

OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY

In Congress, Lincoln had opposed the spread of slavery beyond the Southern states. Then, in 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It said the new territories could decide for themselves if they wanted slavery. This outraged Lincoln, and he began to speak out often against slavery.

In 1858, Lincoln ran for the U.S. Senate. His opponent was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In a series of famous debates, the two men argued over whether slavery should be allowed in Kansas and Nebraska. Douglas argued for slavery and Lincoln argued against it.

Lincoln lost that election to Douglas. But the debates earned him a national reputation. The Republican Party, which opposed slavery, chose Lincoln as its presidential candidate in the election of 1860.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN

Lincoln campaigned against the spread of slavery. But he also said he would not outlaw slavery in the South. In 1860, Lincoln was elected president of the United States.

After Lincoln’s victory became clear, Southern states began to secede, or leave, the Union. Many people in these states owned slaves. They believed Lincoln was attacking their way of life. The states that seceded formed the Confederacy. The states that did not secede—generally Northern states—became known as the Union.

THE CIVIL WAR BEGINS

Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy as separate from the rest of the country. Tensions between the Confederacy and the Union grew. The crisis exploded in April 1861. Confederate soldiers attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War had begun.

Most people in the North believed the war would be brief. But the South raised a good army and won the first battles. The Union Army soon had to draft men to fight. The war became unpopular in the North. Riots against the army broke out in several cities.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

In January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation freed all the slaves in the rebellious states.

The Emancipation Proclamation hurt the Confederacy. It deprived the South of the slave labor it needed to grow food for the Confederate Army. It helped prevent the South from winning allies in Europe, where slavery was seen as wrong. Many freed slaves joined the Union Army.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

In November 1863, Lincoln spoke at the dedication of a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles had been fought at Gettysburg.

The main speaker at the dedication spoke for two hours. Lincoln spoke afterward. It took him just two minutes to give the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln’s famous speech begins with the words “Four score and seven years ago ….” In the speech, Lincoln tied the Union war effort to the principles of American democracy.

LINCOLN APPOINTS GENERAL GRANT

Despite Lincoln’s efforts, the Civil War continued. None of Lincoln’s generals seemed able to defeat the South.

In early 1864, Lincoln put General Ulysses S. Grant in charge of Union forces. “At last,” Lincoln said, “a general who will fight.” Grant’s victories on the battlefield helped Lincoln win reelection later that year.

Under Grant, the Union Army finally defeated the rebellious South. The most powerful Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his army to Grant in Virginia in April 1865. The Civil War was over.

ASSASSINATION

Five days after the Civil War ended, Abraham and Mary Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. During the play, an actor and Southern sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth crept up behind the president and shot him. Lincoln died the following morning.

Lincoln’s coffin was put on a special train and sent back to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. Thousands of people lined the route to view Lincoln’s coffin and mourn his death.