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Introduction When we think about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. is the first thing that pops into our head. As big of an impact Martin Luther King was, he did not do everything alone. As it was shown in the movie Selma, he had help along the way. One of his biggest helps was one of his closest and dependable friends, Ralph Abernathy. Just like Martin Luther King, he was also a minister and a Civil Rights leader who contributed a lot to the fight for equality.

Ralph Abernathy, 1968

Early Life and EducationHe was born on March 11th, 1926 around Linden, Alabama. He attended Linden Academy for his high school. His family owned a 500-acre farm in Marengo County. His father was a community leader, serving as a head deacon for a local Baptist church and he was the first black to be able to vote in the county. Ralph Abernathy wanted to be in the ministry since he was young. He said, “The preacher, after all, was the finest and most important person around, someone who was accorded respect wherever he went.” In 1944, Ralph Abernathy was drafted to the military. Due to his rheumatic fever he caught while he was in Europe, he returned home and attended Alabama State College. The GI Bill paid for his education and he took advantage of the opportunity, getting involved in student council and maintaining good grades. He led boycotts around campus to improve the conditions of the school. After he graduated Alabama State College, he attended Atlanta College for a year to do his graduate and returned to Alabama State College to get his dean of men. It was at Atlanta University in a seminary class he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. together in stand off against a white mob.

What Makes Them NotableLike I said before, he was actively involved in college organizations. At Alabama State College, he was president of the Student Council and led various boycotts and protests across campus to improve the on campus facilities. After his years in college, he became a pastor at Montgomery’s First Baptist Church by 1952. He was becoming a big name in the community and soon became better friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., establishing the dynamic duo. After Rosa Parks got arrested, the organization of the Montgomery bus boycott began. Dr. King led the boycott as Ralph Abernathy was by his side. Despite King usually leading the organized protest and overshadowing Abernathy’s work, Abernathy was important in helping King. King had the philosophical ideas, but Abernathy had the strategies and knew how to execute the plans. Abernathy knew how to connect the lower and middle class, unlike King, in a eloquent way. Him and King gained success together, but at a price for danger. Both of their houses were bombed and Abernathy was chased by a man bearing weapons who claimed Abernathy slept with his wife. Abernathy’s church was also bombed. When King moved to Atlanta to be a pastor at his father’s church, Abernathy moved him and his family to Atlanta as well to be a pastor at West Hunter Street Baptist Church.

Ralph Abernathy as a Disc Jockey.

LegacyRalph Abernathy legacy was being King’s right hand man. He was King’s closest friend and was always there by his side from sitting next to him in a jail sail to being by him on his deathbed. It was said Ralph Abernathy was the “few he could rely on” and how King found “counsel, solace, and perspective” with Abernathy around.

Ralph Abernathy Involvement in SelmaRalph was the pastor for the Selma Marches and was King’s right hand man in leading it. He was vital to the movement and handled huge responsibilities that King entrusted him with. One of them was making an opening gambit- an appearance on Jan. 1 Emancipation proclamation day in 1965.

Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. together.

Family Life He married Juanita Odessa Jones on August 1952, and despite their first child dying as an infant, they had four others that grew to adulthood.

Ralph Abernathy and his wife Juanita Odessa Jones

References1.Abernathy, Ralph D. "Chapter 10/Selma." And the Walls Came Tumbling Dow. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. 297-361. Print.

1.Fay, Robert. "Abernathy, Ralph David." Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition. Ed. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr.. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Oxford African American Studies Center. Sun Jul 05

1.Wallach, Jennifer Jensen. "Abernathy, Ralph David." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. Paul FinkelmanNew York: Oxford UP, 2008. Oxford African American Studies Center. Sun Jul 05