39 Facts About Ralph Abernathy

Ralph Abernathy was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948.

Ralph Abernathy collaborated with King and E D Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott, and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Ralph Abernathy became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968; he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, DC, as well as other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans.

Ralph Abernathy served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality.

In 1971, Abernathy addressed the United Nations speaking about world peace.

Ralph Abernathy assisted in brokering a deal between the FBI and American Indian Movement protestors during the Wounded Knee incident of 1973.

Ralph Abernathy retired from his position as president of the SCLC in 1977 and became president emeritus.

Ralph Abernathy later founded the Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development, and he testified before the US Congress in support of extending the Voting Rights Act in 1982.

In 1989, Ralph Abernathy wrote And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, a controversial autobiography about his and King's involvement in the civil rights movement.

Ralph Abernathy was ridiculed for statements in the book about King's alleged marital infidelities.

Ralph Abernathy eventually became less active in politics and returned to his work as a minister.

Ralph Abernathy died of heart disease on April 17,1990.

Ralph Abernathy's tombstone is engraved with the words "I tried".

Ralph Abernathy's father was the first African-American to vote in Marengo County, Alabama, and the first to serve on a grand jury there.

At Linden Academy, Ralph Abernathy led his first demonstrations to improve the livelihoods of his fellow students.

Ralph Abernathy was ordained a Baptist minister in 1948, and preached his first sermon on Mother's Day.

Ralph Abernathy began his professional career in 1951, when he was appointed as the dean of men at Alabama State University.

Ralph Abernathy married Juanita Odessa Jones of Uniontown, Alabama, on August 31,1952.

Ralph Abernathy mentored King and the two men eventually became close friends.

Ralph Abernathy's family were barely able to escape their home, but they were unharmed.

King and Ralph Abernathy journeyed together, often sharing the same hotel rooms, and leisure times with their wives, children, family, and friends.

Once the shot was fired Ralph Abernathy ran out to the balcony and cradled King in his arms as he lay unconscious.

Ralph Abernathy accompanied King to St Joseph's Hospital within fifteen minutes of the shooting.

In May 1968, Ralph Abernathy led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, DC.

Ralph Abernathy was met by Thomas O Paine, the administrator of NASA, whom he told that in the face of such suffering, space flight represented an inhuman priority and funds should be spent instead to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the homeless".

In 1973, Ralph Abernathy helped negotiate a peace settlement at the Wounded Knee uprising between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the leaders of the American Indian Movement, Russell Means and Dennis Banks.

Ralph Abernathy remained president of the SCLC for nine years following King's death in 1968.

In 1977 Ralph Abernathy resigned from his leadership role at the SCLC, and was bestowed the title president emeritus.

Ralph Abernathy addressed the United Nations in 1971; he spoke about world peace.

Ralph Abernathy was a member of the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Jr.

Ralph Abernathy founded the nonprofit organization Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development, which offered managerial and technical training, creating jobs, income, business and trade opportunities for underemployed and unemployed workers for underprivileged blacks.

In 1979, Abernathy endorsed Senator Edward M Kennedy's candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.

Documents declassified in 2017 show that Ralph Abernathy was on the National Security Agency watchlist because of FBI leadership's hatred of the civil rights movement.

Ralph Abernathy served as vice president of the Unification Church-affiliated group American Freedom Coalition, and served on two Unification Church boards of directors.

Ralph Abernathy died at Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital on the morning of April 17,1990, from two blood clots that traveled to his heart and lungs, five weeks after his 64th birthday.

Ralph Abernathy is entombed in the Chapel Mausoleum of Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta.

Ralph Abernathy received a Doctor of Divinity from Morehouse College, a Doctor of Divinity from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, a Doctor of Laws from Allen University of South Carolina, a Doctor of Laws from Long Island University in New York, and a Doctor of Laws from Alabama State University.

Ralph Abernathy was portrayed by Ernie Lee Banks in the 1978 miniseries King.

Ralph Abernathy was portrayed by Terrence Howard in the 2001 HBO film Boycott, Colman Domingo in the 2014 film Selma, and Dohn Norwood in the 2016 film All the Way.