Ralph David Abernathy Essay

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Ralph David Abernathy, along with his partner Martin Luther King Jr., made a large breakthrough in the rights of equality and Civil Rights issues. He was born on March 11th, 1962 and started an organization around the year 1955 along with King for a breakthrough for Civil Rights. He held and promoted many events in the South to expand the belief of equal rights for all. Ralph Abernathy was an influential advocate of Civil Rights through his roles of a minister, creator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and organizer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Initially, Abernathy impacted civil rights through his ministry. “That same year he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and the largest African American …show more content…
“King and Abernathy continued their close collaboration as the Civil Rights Movement gathered momentum, and in 1957 they founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC.; with King as president and Abernathy as secretary-treasurer) to organize the nonviolent struggle against segregation throughout the South.”(“Ralph David Abernathy”). Together they made a large impact in the South fighting for the civil rights of all Americans. “In 1961 Abernathy relocated his pastoral activities to Atlanta, and that year he was named vice president at large of the SCLC and King’s designated successor there. He continued as King’s chief aide and closest adviser until King’s assassination in 1968, at which time Abernathy succeeded him as president of the SCLC. He headed that organization until his resignation in 1977, after which he resumed his work as the pastor of a Baptist church in Atlanta”(“Ralph David Abernathy”). This show the impact they made together along with the roles and leadership they were able to provide for the organization they created. Also about the death of King as Abernathy took the position of the President of the SCLC to continue to help people all over the