Ralph David Abernathy Signed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service.

ABERNATHY, Ralph David [Martin Luther King.

Item Number: 120281

Ralph David Abernathy signed program for the First Annual Community Memorial Service Commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, for which he was the guest speaker, inscribed, “To Bob Best Wishes Ralph David Abernathy.” This program is from The First Presbyterian Church in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York January 13, 1973.

Ralph David Abernathy was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. He collaborated with King to create the Montgomery Improvement Association which led to the Montgomery bus boycott. He also co-founded and was an executive board member ofthe Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became president ofthe SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968, where he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C. among other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).