Ralph David Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in
1957 to promote civil rights for black Americans. Abernathy has sometimes been called the “other side” of King, his longtime friend and associate. Abernathy found it easy to relate to the poor while King, at least
in the early years, appealed more to the middle class. Together, the two
men were a powerful team, attracting thousands of followers to the
struggle for civil rights.
Early life
Ralph Abernathy was born on March 11, 1926. His father, William
Abernathy, was a Baptist deacon and farmer. Abernathy aspired to be a
preacher, but when he graduated from high school he was drafted into the
U.S. Army to serve during the last months of World War II (1939–45).
After the war, Abernathy enrolled at Alabama State College in
Montgomery, Alabama. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1948 and
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1950. He earned a
master’s degree in sociology from Atlanta University the following year.
With King in Montgomery
In 1951, Abernathy became pastor of First Baptist Church in
Montgomery. Three years later, King became pastor of another black
church in Montgomery, Dexter Avenue Baptist. The two men became
fast friends. Sharing a mutual interest in the struggle for civil rights, Abernathy and King discussed how to go about
bringing an end to segregation (the separation
of blacks and whites in public places) in an orderly, nonviolent manner. Despite having been a
soldier, Abernathy, like King, was convinced
that nonviolence was the only acceptable means
of protest.
Bus boycott
In 1955, Montgomery became the site of a huge
civil rights event when a well-respected African
American woman, Rosa Parks (1913–2005),
refused to give up her seat to a white passenger
on a city bus. She was arrested and fined. Parks’s
arrest touched a nerve in the community. The
local Women’s Political Council called for all
black people of Montgomery to protest by refusing to ride the buses.
King and Abernathy quickly formed the
Montgomery Improvement Association and
held meetings to spread the word about the Montgomery bus boycott.
They instructed local ministers to explain from their pulpits how the
boycott was to be conducted and arranged for taxis and carpools to take
people to work. The boycott began on December 5, 1955. Despite
threats and intimidation, it lasted for more than one year, but it was successful. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on
Montgomery buses was illegal.
The SCLC
In 1957, King and Abernathy arranged a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia,
with other Southern ministers. They formed the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, an organization of churches and civic groups
that would lead nonviolent protests across the South in pursuit of desegregation (ending the separation of blacks and whites in public places).
King was elected president of the SCLC; Abernathy was its secretarytreasurer. While Abernathy was at the SCLC meeting, his home and the
First Baptist Church were bombed, as were other homes and churches in Montgomery. Although his wife and children escaped unharmed, the
warning was clear.
In 1960, King moved to Atlanta to devote more time to the SCLC,
and the following year Abernathy joined him there, becoming pastor of
West Hunter Street Baptist Church. During the next few years, the two
ministers led nonviolent marches, sit-ins, and rallies in the major cities
of the South. (See Sit-in Movement.) They were arrested a number of
times and threatened often, but they attracted support across the nation.
Little by little, they made progress against the segregation and discrimination faced by African Americans in the South. In 1965, Abernathy became the vice president of the SCLC.
Poor People’s Campaign
By the mid-1960s, the civil rights movement had changed many laws
and policies, but many African Americans were still disadvantaged and
poor. To draw attention to poverty, King organized a Poor People’s
Campaign in 1968. He intended to march on Washington, D.C., but
he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, before he could carry out his plan.
It was left to Abernathy to complete the task.
Soon after King’s death, Abernathy, the new president of the SCLC,
led a march to Washington to demonstrate for economic and civil rights.
He and his followers set up a campsite called Resurrection City near the
Lincoln Memorial, to which poor and homeless people came from
across the country. The results of their efforts were disappointing, largely
because Congress was preoccupied with the problems of the Vietnam
War (1954–75).
Last years
As president of the SCLC, Abernathy led several protests against segregation in the South. He was often compared to King and was generally
perceived as lacking the charisma and poise of his friend. He resigned
from the SCLC in 1977 to run for Congress, but he failed to gain the
seat. Undaunted, he formed an organization called the Foundation for
Economic Enterprises Development (FEED) to teach job skills to
African Americans. Abernathy published his autobiography, And the Walls Came
Tumbling Down, in 1989. Because the book revealed that King had been carrying on extramarital affairs, critics accused Abernathy of betraying
his long-deceased friend. He died the following year.