Editing Ralph Abernathy (section)

==Leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference==
[[File:Ralph_Abernathy_portrait_by_Robert_Templeton.jpg|thumb|Abernathy as painted by the artist [[Robert Templeton (artist)|Robert Templeton]], oil, 1974]]

Until King's assassination, Abernathy had served as [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]'s first Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President At-Large.<ref name="sixties">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JscEZeXBsZYC&q=Abernathy+had+served+as+SCLC%2527s+first+Financial+Secretary/Treasurer+and+Vice+President+At-Large.&pg=PA4 |title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313329449 |pages=4 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=JscEZeXBsZYC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=Abernathy+had+served+as+SCLC%2527s+first+Financial+Secretary%2FTreasurer+and+Vice+President+At-Large.&source=bl&ots=S51klMMNKC&sig=muZtFwNXl3MMKo72UbGlD05N0hk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid9u67kqzZAhVD6GMKHYvUBeEQ6AEINDAB |archive-date=March 16, 2018 }}</ref> After King's death, Abernathy assumed the presidency of the SCLC.<ref name=EB/><ref name="nyt"/> One of his first roles was to take up the role of leading a march to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis which King and Abernathy had planned to attend before King's assassination.<ref name="wp">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/02/12/i-am-a-man-the-1968-memphis-sanitation-workers-strike-that-led-to-mlks-assassination/ |title='I Am a Man': The ugly Memphis sanitation workers' strike that led to MLK's assassination |last=Brown |first=DeNeen L. |date=February 12, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=February 17, 2018 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212191302/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/02/12/i-am-a-man-the-1968-memphis-sanitation-workers-strike-that-led-to-mlks-assassination/ |archive-date=February 12, 2018 }}</ref> In May 1968, Abernathy led the [[Poor People's Campaign]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="npr">{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91626373 |title=Poor People's Campaign: A Dream Unfulfilled |work=NPR.org |access-date=February 17, 2018 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208121912/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91626373 |archive-date=February 8, 2018 }}</ref>

===Protest at NASA===
On the eve of the launch of [[Apollo 11]], on July 15, 1969, Abernathy arrived at [[Cape Canaveral|Cape Kennedy]] with several hundred members of the poor people campaign to protest against the spending by government on space exploration, while many Americans remained poor.<ref name="rocket">{{Cite thesis |last=Tribbe |first=Matthew David |date=August 2010 |title=The Rocket and the Tarot: The Apollo Moon Landings and American Culture at the Dawn of the Seventies |type=PhD dissertation |location=Austin, Texas |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin |language=en |url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1584/TRIBBE-DISSERTATION.pdf.txt?sequence=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217120923/https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1584/TRIBBE-DISSERTATION.pdf.txt?sequence=5 |archive-date=February 17, 2018 |access-date=February 17, 2018}}</ref> He was met by [[Thomas O. Paine]], the administrator of [[NASA]], whom he told that in the face of such suffering, space flight represented an inhuman priority and funds should be spent instead to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the homeless".<ref name="otto">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6pMqCjVynG0C&q=%2522abernathy%2522+met+Thomas+O.+Paine,+-wordpress+-blogspot+-facebook&pg=PA100 |title=Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America |last=Otto |first=Shawn Lawrence |date=October 11, 2011 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=9781609613204 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=6pMqCjVynG0C&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=%2522abernathy%2522+met+Thomas+O.+Paine,+-wordpress+-blogspot+-facebook&source=bl&ots=_4dGdBUDaL&sig=EtUl5xC3QnzDMZ2XspX3QGCm8p4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj97sW296zZAhVY0GMKHdoWAzAQ6AEIOzAC#v=onepage&q=%2522abernathy%2522%2520met%2520Thomas%2520O.%2520Paine%252C%2520-wordpress%2520-blogspot%2520-facebook&f=false |archive-date=March 16, 2018 }}</ref> Paine told Abernathy that the advances in space exploration were "child's play" compared to the "tremendously difficult human problems" of society Abernathy was discussing.<ref name="otto" /> Despite protesting against the launch, Abernathy acknowledged that he was "profoundly moved by the nation's achievements in space and the heroism of the three men embarking for the moon", but added that "What we can do for space and exploration we demand that we do for starving people."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Niiler|first=Eric|date=July 11, 2019|title=Why Civil Rights Activists Protested the Moon Landing|url=https://www.history.com/news/apollo-11-moon-landing-launch-protests|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101070836/https://www.history.com/news/apollo-11-moon-landing-launch-protests|archive-date=November 1, 2020|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=[[History (American TV network)|History]]}}</ref> Later in 1969 Abernathy also took part in a labor struggle in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], on behalf of the hospital workers of the local union 1199B, which led to a living wage increase and improved working conditions for thousands of hospital workers.<ref name="momentum">{{Cite web |url=http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/charleston_hospital_workers_mo/movement_gains_momentum |title=A Movement Gains Momentum · The Charleston Hospital Workers Movement, 1968–1969 · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative |website=ldhi.library.cofc.edu |language=en-US |access-date=February 17, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218024106/http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/charleston_hospital_workers_mo/movement_gains_momentum |archive-date=February 18, 2018 }}</ref>

===Wounded Knee===
In 1973, Abernathy helped negotiate a peace settlement at the [[Wounded Knee incident|Wounded Knee]] uprising between the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the leaders of the American Indian Movement, [[Russell Means]] and [[Dennis Banks]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/leaders-of-the-civil-rights-movement/2/ |title=Leaders of the civil rights movement |date=October 16, 2017 |work=CBS News |access-date=April 4, 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIaMBAAAQBAJ&q=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&pg=PA295 |title=Power, Politics, and the Decline of the Civil Rights Movement: A Fragile Coalition, 1967–1973 |last=Lehman |first=Christopher P. |date=July 29, 2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440832666 |pages=296 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=sIaMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA295&lpg=PA295&dq=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&source=bl&ots=EtANiaQa3J&sig=QxsGY250SDeIgRP0NjQ8FYXhYIA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjeyb-W-qzZAhVD2WMKHTA5A2UQ6AEINDAE#v=onepage&q=%2522Abernathy%2522%2520%2522Wounded%2520Knee%2522&f=false |archive-date=March 16, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6N9oAgAAQBAJ&q=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&pg=PA199 |title=Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power |last=Smith |first=Sherry L. |date=May 3, 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199855605 |pages=199 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231902/https://books.google.com/books?id=6N9oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=%2522Abernathy%2522+%2522Wounded+Knee%2522&source=bl&ots=Ga7N7P7wqe&sig=QQx3-qnq2kx9mwd47bKiPPqAVIU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjeyb-W-qzZAhVD2WMKHTA5A2UQ6AEIMTAD#v=onepage&q=%2522Abernathy%2522%2520%2522Wounded%2520Knee%2522&f=false |archive-date=March 16, 2018 }}</ref>

Abernathy remained president of the SCLC for nine years following King's death in 1968.<ref name=EB/> After King's death the organization lost the popularity it had under his leadership.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Abernathy-Ralph.html |title=Ralph Abernathy Biography – life, family, children, mother, son, book, information, born, college, time |website=www.notablebiographies.com |language=en |access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> By the time Abernathy left the organization the SCLC had become indebted, and critics stated that it wasn't as imaginative as the SCLC led by Dr. King.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0311.html |title=Ralph David Abernathy, Rights Pioneer, Is Dead at 64 |access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> In 1977 Abernathy resigned from his leadership role at the SCLC, and was bestowed the title president emeritus.<ref name=EB/>