IA

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. J. RES. 183

To authorize the Ralph David Abernathy Memorial Foundation to establish

a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 11, 1996

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. WAXMAN,

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. TEJEDA, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. FROST, Mr.

DIXON, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Ms.

NORTON, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. WATERS,

Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. BRYANT of Texas, Mr. WYNN,

Mr. FLAKE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr.

SCOTT, Mr. RUSH, Mr. THOMPSON, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. JACKSON

of Illinois, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr.

CUMMINGS) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on Resources

JOINT RESOLUTION

To authorize the Ralph David Abernathy Memorial Foundation to establish a memorial in the District of Columbia

or its environs.

Whereas upheld and revered as a noble champion of the poor,

Dr. Ralph David Abernathy dedicated his life, spiritually

and physically, in service to the monumental ideals of

justice and equality and led his people and his Nation

along a path of righteous change; and fearless fighter in

the war against injustice, poverty, and bigotry, he had
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the conviction to lead and a vision to offer a country

shackled by the chains of segregation;

Whereas, as the cofounder and coleader of the great American Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Abernathy galvanized

the conscience of a generation, changed the moral and social direction of a Nation, paved the way for millions of

African Americans to realize the American Dream, and

earned for himself a place of exaltation among the pantheon of American political and social leaders;

Whereas recognized as inseparable friends and partners in

life and inseparable heroes in death, the perfectly complementary natures of Dr. Abernathy and Dr. King propelled the movement forward with Dr. King articulating

its nonviolent philosophy and Dr. Abernathy providing its

strategy for success and its spiritual ballast; and the

bond between them was indelibly strengthened during the

more than 40 times that they were jailed together in

their nonviolent quest for justice and equality;

Whereas the grandson of slaves, Ralph David Abernathy was

born March 11, 1926, in Linden, Marengo County, Alabama as the 10th of the 12 children of William L. Abernathy, a farmer and a deacon, and Mrs. Louivory Valentine Abernathy, a devout Christian; and he attended high

school at Linden Academy; enlisted in the military during

World War II and rose to the rank of platoon sergeant;

and upon his honorable discharge, enrolled at Alabama

State College in Montgomery in 1945 where he became

student body and class president and from which he

graduated with High Honors with a bachelor of arts degree; and he began his professional career in 1950 when

he was appointed Personnel Director at Alabama State

College and later assumed the position of Dean of Men
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and Professor of Social Studies; and in February 1952,

he was called as the senior pastor of the historic First

Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he

served for a decade; and shortly after accepting this call,

he married Juanita Odessa Jones of Uniontown, Alabama and to their union four children were born:

Juandalynn Ralpheda, Donzaleigh Avis, Ralph David III,

and Kwame Luthuli;

Whereas, as two young activist preachers in Montgomery,

Alabama in 1956, Dr. Abernathy and Dr. King organized

the Montgomery Bus Boycott which led to a successful

year long boycott of that city’s transit system, eventually

ending Alabama’s bus segregation and heralding the beginning of America’s postwar civil rights movement; and

Dr. Abernathy cofounded the Montgomery Improvement

Association which was the forerunner of the Atlantabased Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(SCLC), which he also cofounded in 1957;

Whereas the SCLC, which Dr. Abernathy served as Financial

Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-President at Large, spearheaded the United States Civil Rights Movement and

helped to bring about passage of the landmark 1964 Civil

Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the abolition of Jim Crow segregation laws in Southern States;

and for 13 turbulent years, from 1955 until Dr. King’s

death in 1968, Dr. Abernathy and Dr. King together

were swept along by the movement on a fateful odyssey—

to Atlanta, Albany, Birmingham, Washington, D.C., St.

Augustine, Selma, Chicago, and Memphis, and across the

country—in a nonviolent quest to achieve justice for all

mankind and to tear down the walls of segregation and

discrimination;
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Whereas in addition to the resulting legislation, Dr. Abernathy was able to instill in millions of African Americans

a new sense of pride and self-worth and the movement

has served as an inspiration throughout the world as a

model of principled, nonviolent struggle for freedom and

equality; and remembered by those who were there as the

tower of strength even in the darkest days of the movement, Dr. Abernathy endured with equanimity the bombing of his church and his home, the beatings, the arrests,

the threats, even the selling of his family inheritance at

public auction and still, for the sake of the downtrodden,

walked undaunted along the dusty roads of southern

towns crying ‘‘let my people go’’;

Whereas it was Dr. Abernathy who cradled Dr. King in his

arms as he took his last breath April 4, 1968, mortally

wounded by an assassin’s bullet; and, upon assuming the

presidency of the SCLC and the mantle of the American

Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Abernathy immediately

began to implement plans for the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC;

Whereas unprecedented in scope and objectives, the Poor

People’s Campaign reflected Dr. Abernathy’s deeply held

conviction that the key to the salvation and redemption

of this Nation lay in its moral and humane response to

the needs of its most oppressed and poverty-stricken citizens;

Whereas aiming to rub raw the Nation’s conscience on hunger and poverty, in the spring of 1968, Dr. Abernathy led

thousands of the country’s hungry—black, brown, and

white—from the hollows of Georgia, the swamps of Mississippi, the hills of Tennessee, the plains of the West,

the Eastside barrios of New York City, and the tene-
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ments of Chicago, in building Resurrection City in the

Nation’s Capital;

Whereas the Poor People’s Campaign led to systemic changes

in Government policies which now benefit millions of the

financially underprivileged and to federally assisted programs which provide for the poor and the elderly;

Whereas Dr. Abernathy, through his close ties with labor as

expressed in the Charleston, South Carolina Hospital

Worker’s Movement, brought a living wage and improved

working conditions for thousands of hospital workers

throughout the Nation; and he founded a nonprofit organization known as the Foundation for Economic Enterprises Development (FEED) through which he worked

diligently to create jobs, job training, and business and

trade opportunities for minorities in the United States;

Whereas as documented by the Honorable William Clay,

United States Congressman from Missouri, in his book

entitled ‘‘Just Permanent Interests,’’ Dr. Abernathy was

instrumental in building the groundswell of support for

the enactment of the Federal Martin Luther King, Jr.

Holiday that started with a petition drive that resulted

in 800,000 signatures in 1968, and upon reintroduction

of the bill calling for such holiday in 1971, he launched

a second petition drive that secured more than 3,000,000

signatures which he personally brought by train to the

White House; his unflagging commitment contributed directly to the passage of the bill in 1983;

Whereas during his lifetime, he addressed the United Nations

and served as president of the World Peace Council, was

awarded more than 300 citations and awards, 7 honorary

doctoral degrees, and was a member of more than 40 organizations, including life membership in the NAACP,
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the World Commission on Hunger, the Presidential

Council on Aging, the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union,

the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Kappa

Alpha Psi Fraternity, and the American Sociological Society; and while actively involved in the Movement, he

completed his master’s degree in sociology at Atlanta

University;

Whereas he remained President of the SCLC for 9 years,

from 1968 to 1977, and continued as President Emeritus

until his death in 1990; and he assumed the pastorate of

the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia in 1961 and served as its senior pastor until the time

of his death; and

Whereas Ralph David Abernathy, civil rights leader, minister,

sociologist, pastor, husband, father, builder of dreams,

humanitarian, distinguished American, died on April 17,

1990; and in honor and recognition of the extraordinary

life and spirit of Ralph David Abernathy and his enduring contributions to the elevation of the human conscience and the improvement of the human condition in

the United States and around the world and in gratitude

for his sacrifices on behalf of the most cherished of our

national ideals, freedom, and equality, we hereby support

and approve the creation and erection of the Ralph David

Abernathy Poor People’s Memorial as a lasting tribute

and a permanent reminder of our moral and humanitarian duties as individuals and as a Nation: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH MEMORIAL.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Ralph David Abernathy Me3 morial Foundation is authorized to establish a memorial

4 on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor Dr.

5 Ralph David Abernathy and the Poor People’s Campaign.

6 The memorial shall be known as the Ralph David Aber7 nathy Poor People’s Memorial and shall be located in Area

8 I between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington

9 Monument.

10 (b) COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS FOR COMMEMO11 RATIVE WORKS.—Except as provided in subsection (c)

12 and section 2(c), the establishment of the memorial shall

13 be in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act (40

14 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).

15 (c) TWENTY-FIVE YEAR PERIOD INAPPLICABLE.—

16 Section 3(c) of the Commemorative Works Act shall not

17 apply to the memorial established under this Act.

18 SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.

19 (a) CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORIAL.—The Ralph

20 David Abernathy Memorial Foundation shall be solely re21 sponsible for acceptance of contributions for, and payment

22 of the expenses of, the construction of the memorial.

23 (b) MAINTENANCE OF MEMORIAL.—Federal funds

24 may be used to pay expenses for the maintenance and

25 preservation of the memorial and its infrastructure.
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1 (c) OFFSET OF COSTS OF MAINTENANCE OF MEMO2 RIAL INAPPLICABLE.—The offset of the costs of mainte3 nance and preservation of a memorial required in the first

4 sentence of section 8(b) of the Commemorative Works Act

5 shall not apply to the memorial established under this Act.

6 SEC. 3. DEPOSIT OF EXCESS FUNDS.

7 If, upon payment of all expenses of the construction

8 of the memorial, or upon expiration of the authority for

9 the memorial under section 10(b) of the Commemorative

10 Works Act, there remains a balance of funds received for

11 the construction of the memorial, the Ralph David Aber12 nathy Memorial Foundation shall transmit the amount of

13 the balance to the Secretary of the Treasury for deposit

14 in an account under section 8(b)(1) of such Act for main15 tenance and preservation of the memorial pursuant to sec16 tion 8(b)(2) of such Act.

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