Reverend Ralph Abernathy

1926 Linden, Alabama - 1990 Atlanta, Georgia

BiographyRalph Abernathy was born in Linden, Alabama to the son of a deacon at the local Baptist church. He served in the U.S. Army at the end of World War Two and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1948. He also received a mathematics B.S. and Sociology M.A. In 1952 Abernathy became the pastor of Montgomery's First Baptist Church where he participated in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and helped to organize the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the Bus Boycotts. In 1957 Abernathy's home and church were bombed in an attack. After this he and other African American leaders formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He moved to Atlanta in 1961 to become the pastor at the West Hunter Baptist Church and be able to better serve the SCLC and the MIA. Abernathy became president of the SCLC after King's assassination in 1968. He resigned from the position in 1977 and ran for a congressional seat which he lost. He continued to remain at the West Hunter Baptist Church and formed the Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development.

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