RALPH D. ABERNATHY

By: Safeeya A.Yazmin C.

Khizra Y.

INTRODUCTION Ralph was born on March 11, 1926 in

Linden, Alabama. He was the son of William L. Abernathy and Louivery Bell. He was the tenth of twelve children. Growing up Ralph wanted to become a preacher, and his mother encouraged him to pursue his dream. The reason he wanted to become a preacher was, because of the fact that a preacher was the most admired in his community.

ADULTHOOD

Ralph was barely eighteen years old when he was called on duty to serve in the Army during World War ll.

He served for three years then came home in 1947, because his mother was severely ill. She died two days after he came home.

He went to Alabama State University and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1950.

Then he earned a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Atlanta University in 1951.

ADULTHOOD During his college years, he met a women

named Juanita Odessa Jones, and they formed a close bond.

When he was only twenty-six years old, he was offered a job at the First Baptist Church Of Montgomery.

Juanita and Abernathy eventually fell in love, and got married on August 31,1952.

They had four children together, Juandalynn Ralpheda, Donzaleigh Avis, Ralph David III, Kwame Luthuli.

His first child, Kwame Luthuli, died as an infant.

MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT Many minister’s formed the Montgomery

Improvement Association (MIA) to organize the bus boycott, and Martin Luther King Jr. was voted as the president.

African-American cab drivers were persuaded to take African-American workers to their jobs for a ten-cent fare.

The bus boycott ended after 381 days, and by then all the buses were completely desegregated. Bus boycott was ended on January 10, 1957.

MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT After the end of the boycott,

Abernathy’s home and church were bombed.

The actions of the M.I.A. were shown on TV and reported in newspapers which encouraged the African-American’s in the South to help out with the Civil Right Movement.

By this time the boycott was officially over.

FRIENDSHIP WITH M.L.K

Martin Luther King Jr. Ralph David Abernathy

FRIENDSHIP WITH M.L.K King was elected president and

Abernathy was elected secretary-treasurer for the M.I.A.

They both worked together to bring all types of skin colors in one room.

They were inseparable till Kings

assassination. They had gone to jail together and were released about the same time.

FAMILY

Juanita Odessa Jones (Wife)

Left: Juandalynn Ralpheda

Right: Donzaleigh Avis

MARCH ON WASHINGTON On August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C.

over two hundred fifty thousand African American, and whites came and had a march.

The leaders of all the major civil rights organizations participated, and helped with the march.

The purpose of this march was to send a civil rights bill to Congress, because of the success of Birmingham demonstration.

In the summer of 1964, the civil rights act had been signed into law, and in 1965 the Voting Rights Acts was passed.

LEADERSHIP OF SCLC Abernathy became the new leader of SCLC (Southern

Christian Leadership Conference) because King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

His first plan was to hold Poor Peoples Campaign so that poor whites, African Americans, and Native Americans could say their problems to President Johnson.

The effect of this protest caused Abernathy to find himself in jail again. He was charged for gathering a group of people for an illegal purpose.

The organization wasn’t as popular with Abernathy as the leader then it had been with King.

BECOMES A WRITER Abernathy resigned from SCLC in 1977. Ralph organized his own organization in

which African-Americans were taught to have better opportunities.

He served as a minister and a lecturer throughout the United States.

In 1989, Abernathy’s autobiography was published, “And The Walls Come Tumbling Down”.

DEATHRalph Abernathy died of a heart attack on April 30, 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. He will always stay in our memories.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, Ralph Abernathy was

a man who just wanted to help all the African-Americans to have a better opportunity. He wanted to see people of all color come together as one. He believed you can’t judge a person by the tone of their skin. He believed everyone was equal. He didn’t give up for the freedom of our people until the day he died.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Online Newspaper Article) Patsy Sims, “Ralph

Abernathy: Fighting Side By Side With Dr.King” Chicago Sun Times, October 22, 1989. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/IP-3967010.htm1

This source is useful, because it helps us understand what Abernathy went through his childhood.

(Website) John Simkin, Spartacus Educational/Spartacus, June 6th 2001. http://www.spartacus.school.net.co.uk/u.s.Abernathy.htm

This source helped us get background information on his wife, and family. How they met and got married.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Website) Ralph Abernathy. EOA http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.Jsp?id=h-1110This website is easy to understand and

provides a ton of good information. It also elaborates on his religious beliefs.

(Website) Booknotes/NationalCableSatellite Corporation 1989 http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/?programID=1442

This source was not as helpful as the others because of the fact that the description was very short. Even though there was little description, there were some parts that were useful to me.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Website) Ralph David

Abernathy/FultonCounty.24February,2000.http://www.Findagrave.com/cgibin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8533

This source was helpful to me when I was trying to find information on his death, because it gives me information on where he was buried. And the place where his grave still is.

(Online magazine) “Ralph Abernathy III returns to Prison after violating Probation” jet 16 December,2002 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-95632056.htm1

This source was very clear on the information that was given. I didn’t have to keep looking back to understand what I was reading. Plus, I found it interesting.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Website) Ralph Abernathy BiographyNBhttp://www.notablebiographies.com/A-

An/AbernathyRaplh-htm. This site was not as detailed as I would have liked it

to be. It had a lot of the same information that the other sites had. It was too general.

(Book) Ralph David Abernathy (People in Focus Series)

CatherineMreef.GA:DillionPr.1995 This book was well written, and was also very

detailed. The author focused a lot on his leadership of the SCLC. And also the book was mainly focused on his struggles to becoming a leader.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (book) Ralph David Abernathy “And the Walls came tumbling

down:Harper &Row 1989 Ralph wrote this book about his own life

and the struggles he over came. This book was the most helpful, because it was written by the man himself, and it was nice to know his perspective on every thing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY