On This Day…Civil Rights Leader, Dr Ralph Abernathy died at the age of 64..Dr Abernathy was Dr Martin Luther King, Jr’s right havd man and helped organize the 1955 Alabama Bus Boycott..and it happened On This Day
Synopsis
Born on March 11, 1926, in Linden, Alabama, Ralph D. Abernathy was a Baptist minister who, with Martin Luther King Jr., organized the historical Montgomery bus boycotts. He co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a major civil rights figure, serving as close adviser to King and later assuming SCLC presidency. Later returning to the ministry, Abernathy died on April 17, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Close Allies With Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1954, when Martin Luther King Jr. became a minster at nearby church, Ralph D. Abernathy mentored him. The two formed an incredible bond and would become leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, the pair founded the Montgomery Improvement Association and organized a yearlong bus boycott. Their actions were triggered by the arrest of Rosa Parks, who had refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. The boycott caught the country’s attention but also brought violence; Abernathy’s home and church were damaged by bomb blasts.
The danger didn’t deter Abernathy. In 1957, he and King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the most prominent of the civil rights organizations in the south. King was president and Abernathy eventually became vice president. A few years later, Abernathy hosted a rally for the Freedom Riders, black and white activists who traveled by bus to protest segregation in the South.
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source: biography.com
