Why Is Ralph D. Abernathy Important

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America and an excellent leader. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He lived in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky with his family. Lincoln taught himself law, he passed the bar examination in 1836. In the following year, he moved

Little did Rosa know that a simple act of courage would change the course of American history. That day she was arrested for violating Montgomery's transportation laws and took her to jail. She was soon released on a one-hundred dollar bail. A trial was scheduled for December 5, 1955. Her arrest brought a protest of seven thousand blacks in her community. Her community was small but every African American member of her town was sure to be protesting for her release that day. This protest rapidly started the creation of the Montgomery Improvement Association. The most involved and determined person besides Parks in this movement was Martin Luther King Jr. would call for a one-day bus boycott which ended up extending after Rosa was found guilty. Rosa was fined ten dollars. Rosa once again refused to pay any money and appealed her case. Rosa Parks and her husband both lost their jobs and were harassed and ridiculed for what happened on the bus. Most whites would say she made a fool out of herself and she embarrassed

Due to his involvement in civil rights terrorists would bomb his home and threaten him by phone and through letters. Despite this King stood by nonviolent ways and studied Gandhi's techniques during a trip to India. With the help of other black minister King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and served as president for the rest of his life. It helped promote nonviolence and black equality. The SCLC worked for voter registration, political education, leadership training, education in nonviolent methods, and economic development

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, one of the leaders of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, despite being reprimanded by the driver (Schulke 166). Montgomery, Alabama was known for its terrible treatment of blacks. The buses in particular had been a source of tension between the city and black citizens for many years (Schulke, 167). As a result of refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks' popularity among the black community, proved to be the spark that ignited the non-violent Civil Rights Movement (Norrell 2).

In “1955, King was asked to be a spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This was a campaign to try to achieve integration of the city’s bus lines. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional” (Dr. King 1). “In 1957, King was elected the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization designed to provide new leadership for the civil rights movement” (Dr. King 1). In 1963 King led a number of nonviolent campaigns that helped to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama. “Later in 1963, King was one of the driving forces behind the March for Jobs and Freedom” (Dr. King 1). “He also won Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” award in that year” (Dr. King 1). “In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was 35 years old making him the youngest recipient of the award” (Dr. King 1). After the March on Washington, Martin was able to get Congress to pass the Civil rights act, this made it so segregation was illegal. It also made it illegal to discriminate against blacks and other minorities in all aspects including hiring, hotels and other accommodations, education and transportation. “In 1965, Congress went on to pass the Voting Rights Act, which set laws that eliminated the remaining barriers to voting for African-Americans” (Dr. King 2). “Through 1965-1968, King shifted his focus to economic equality which he highlighted by leading

African American people have come a long way from the illiterate slaves, who were once picking cotton in fields, to powerful political leaders. A prime example would be President Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States of America. But first we must ask ourselves, how did this occur? Who lead African Americans to better living standards? Civil rights leaders, such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks, just to name a few. However, among these great names in history, there is one that stands out, and that man is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King gave hope to those in need with his awe inspiring sermons he performed at the church his grandfather founded. He changed foes to

In the fifties, segregation existed in every state, but it was strongest in the South where Public Schools, transportation, hotels, and restaurants were all segregated. King convinced thousands of African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama to refuse to ride the city buses because they were segregated. For thirteen months African Americans in Montgomery walked to work instead of riding the segregated buses. Eventually, the loss of revenue and a decision by the Supreme Court forced the Montgomery Bus Company to accept integration. After his success in Montgomery, King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which gave him a base to pursue further civil rights activities, first in the South and later nationwide. In 1960 King moved himself and his family to Montgomery to devote more of his effort towards the work of the SCLC. King traveled the country making speeches and inspiring people to become involved in the civil rights movement. King argued that as African Americans made up ten percent of the population, they had considerable economic power. By selective buying, they could reward companies that were sympathetic to the civil rights movement while punishing those who still segregated their workforce. By boycotting, they were able to pressure the companies into hiring more African Americans. King wrote a book in 1958 entitled Stride Toward

Later, due to the events of the boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. emerged and was the movement’s “most effective leader” (Clayborne Carson). He is known for his nonviolent tactics and his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Martin Luther King Jr. was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later became the president of the SCLC in 1957 following the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

A year after the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks refused to give up a seat on the bus in Alabama. Rosa Parks is a seamstress and a dedicated member of the NAACP when she was arrested and jailed for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. Her action caused Jo Ann Robinson to organize a large-scale boycott of the Montgomery bus system to begin with for the protest three days later. Mass protests soon began across the nation. After decades of segregation and inequality, many African Americans had decided the time had come to demand equal rights. Approximately 40,000 African-American bus riders boycotted the system the next day, December 5. That afternoon, black leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). The group elected Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old-pastor of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as its president, and decided to continue the boycott until the city met its demands. The boycott ended after 381 days, and not only Montgomery residents were granted equal access to bus seats, all the buses had been

In 1952, Martin Luther King Jr. moved to Montgomery to become minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where he met Abernathy. Abernathy served as King’s mentor in the city’s black ministerial community where the two formed an incredible bond. In December

Martin Luther King Jr. proved to be the most effective leader due to his unique conciliatory and oratorical skills. Once he realized the significance he decided the best tactic would be to use Ghandian nonviolence. Under Martin Luther King's leadership the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed in 1957. On February 1, 1960, four freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a wave of sit-ins designed to end segregation at southern lunch counters (History). This group of students would then form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in April

The Montgomery bus boycott, a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955 which was the Monday after Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person to December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Events leading up to the bus boycott.

King was an excellent speaker and preacher at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and rose in the ranks at the beginning of the movement during the Montgomery Bus-boycott. His teachings encouraged more peaceful movements such as sit-ins; the freedom rides and the famous Selma-Montgomery march for voting rights. Some of this call for peaceful change can be seen in the quote by King when receiving his Nobel Peace Prize,

Martin Luther King Jr was a protestor who became the most important spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) and in 1954, he decided to take a position as a preacher at Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King felt as though it was his moral duty to help the civil rights movement which is why he planned many activities that will help get his point across. Activities such as boycotts, sit-in protest, freedom rides, and many nonviolent protests, which led to his arrest in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. uses different rhetorical appeals to demonstrate all the conflict African

Martin Luther King Jr. knew of the constant racism and cruelty in Birmingham, Alabama and decided to lead a march in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, treasurer of the SCLC, led a group of fifty marchers toward city hall in Birmingham (Boerst, 12). Martin Luther King Jr. and the protestors wanted to stand up