Ralph Abernathy – Dr. King’s Right-Hand Man

Ralph Abernathy was the black man most recognized as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s second-in-command. It’s easy to see him being King’s Vice President, had the good doctor ever attained the White House. In his last speech on April 3, 1968, MLK said, “Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world.” Abernathy’s family has stated he loved them dearly, and that he risked everything for the American Civil Rights Movement – hard as it was. 

Ralph Abernathy introduced Dr. King before the crowd of striking sanitation workers in Memphis on April 3 of 1968, when MLK gave his last speech. He was the first person out on the motel’s balcony when MLK was shot, and they went back to well before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Abernathy was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery around 1951, and while living there, he formed a close and enduring partnership with Dr. King, who wasn’t famous until the years of the bus boycott. At the time, King was pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, also in Montgomery. He “hung out” with many other reverends and pastors, both black and white, during the course of his brief but firebrand and “righteous” political career. MLK’s church background was the core of his entire political thrust, as when he spoke he preached of “doing the right thing” at all times.

Abernathy was MLK’s right-hand man in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as its Secretary-Treasurer. He assumed presidency of the SCLC upon King’s death. About a week after the assassination, Abernathy lead yet another march for the striking sanitation workers in Memphis, and in May of 1968, he, Jesse Jackson and others organized the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) March on Washington, D.C. They were hoping to bring attention to the problems of poverty-stricken people, and constructed huts in the nation’s capital, which caused a showdown with the police.

But Abernathy, being noted for his calmness and tendency to be “laid back,” slept in a hotel during this campaign. He was known to be fearless, but didn’t like having to deal with deprived conditions. He was a gentle, loving Christian gentleman, but wasn’t as happy to bend sometimes as his friend Dr. King. Abernathy’s daughter, Donzaleigh Abernathy, said her father really hated dealing with racism and its usual accompanying low circumstances. One time, when King’s and Abernathy’s families were living in poverty-stricken housing for blacks in order to see what it was like, Abernathy’s family left after staying there for only a week, while the King family continued living in “the Projects” for many months.

But on June 19, Abernathy gave a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in front of tens of thousands of King’s white and black supporters. Regardless, the PPC at Resurrection City soon fell apart, becoming an embarrassment to the Civil Rights Movement as rapes and robberies among the protestors began to increase. The lack of discipline after Dr. King’s death was showing; a deep and mournful ennui had sunk in, completely taking it over. The Movement had lost its best leader – her heart and soul was gone – cancelled with the death of her brightest star and son.

The PPC’s goals were swiftly deemed “unrealistic,” not ones the public wanted to sanction. Abernathy lost control of the situation to more vivacious leaders like Jesse Jackson – and the government ended up moving in on Resurrection City on June 24, using force to disband the protestors. Abernathy was jailed for three weeks following the collapse of what had been meant as a tribute to the dead Dr. King – an attempt at his political “resurrection.” Abernathy never did make it when it came to replacing King as leader of the Movement, in spite of all the efforts he had made in assisting his dear friend along the way.

THE END

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