Ralph David Abernathy III had been suffering severely for more than year, battling Stage 4 colon cancer while also valiantly fighting to honor and refresh his late father’s legacy. Yesterday, the son of civil rights icon and Martin King Jr’s best friend, Ralph Abernathy Jr., was eulogized and buried. Abernathy III died two days short of his 57th birthday.
Tag: civil rights
Posted inMain Slider
Susie King Taylor: Civil War nurse and early social justice activist
This week, guest columnist HERMINA GLASS-HILL, a public historian, explores the transformation of Susie King Taylor, a Civil War nurse, into a an early social justice activist and racial uplift advocate.
Susie Baker King Taylor, born in 1848 in Liberty County, is celebrated as the only African American woman ever to have written an autobiography of her enlistment and service as a teacher and a nurse in the first all-black regiment in the history of the U.S. army. Yet very little has been written about her private emotions, frustrations, and disappointments. These aspects of Taylor’s life resonate very deeply within my own spirit, and are just as compelling as her public achievements.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Coca-Cola Co. among 60 corporations backing federal ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. is among 60 major corporations that have the launched the Business Coalition for Equity Act, which is to promote passage of civil rights legislation that seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Posted inColumns, Latest News, Main Slider, Maynard Eaton
The “Furious Five”: A sizzling Atlanta urban Republican dialogue. Where is Black Atlanta in the “All of It”?
I now call them the “Furious Five” – an eclectic crew of friends and political knowers – who were invited to participate in the first of a month long series of “unbridled” conversations about the political issues of the day. And, they put on a dazzling, dynamic show; their debate was robust, riveting and revealing.
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maynard Eaton
The Bloody Sunday Blues
Bloody Sunday is surreal. It was an uncanny experience even for this seasoned journalist to encounter civil rights icon, Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, holding court and counseling youngsters at the apex of the Edmund Pettis Bridge on Sunday March 6th about the significance and substance of this memorable day in Black history.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Advocates call for passage of civil rights law after defeat of proposed religious liberty law
Human rights advocates on Wednesday called upon Georgia lawmakers to pass civil rights legislation, shortly after they said they delivered to Gov. Nathan Deal 75,000 emails urging lawmakers to vote against the pending religious liberty bill.
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maynard Eaton
Hank Thomas: ‘I’m a Freedom Rider and Buffalo Soldier’
Hank Thomas is a legendary civil rights activist and a pioneer Black fast food franchisee multi-millionaire, but few people know he is also among Black America’s foremost African American art collectors. The 74 year-old Thomas is the only surviving Freedom Rider aboard the infamous Greyhound bus that was set on fire on Mother’s Day in 1961, and he may be the only Atlanta art aficionado who owns so many Black art paintings he can’t count them all.
Posted inWABE
Commentary: Atlanta has become a hub for negotiations
Original Story on WABE The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations agreed to a trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Atlanta on Oct. 4. It took more than five years of difficult negotiations to hammer out this agreement. Atlanta’s spirit of mediation fits right into the image that came out of the […]
Posted inMichelle Hiskey & Ben Smith
Ryan’s Run shines for shelter, son and suicide prevention
Raised by parents who started Central Night Shelter as volunteers, Ryan Bashor met men who coped with personal darkness, such as mental illness. Some carried secrets from their families; they feared the stigma. Ryan started working at the shelter in high school because he enjoyed helping people too.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The 1st great scholar of black life in America, he was an author, an activist and an Atlantan
Above all of his accomplishments, he will be remembered as a tireless advocate for social justice.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
Going It Alone
An Atlanta politician stands on the right side of history even though it means going it alone.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
As Atlanta marks historic march, Ga. lawmakers to vote Monday on bill to restrict early voting
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is slated to kick off at noon Monday the city’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
The Ray Barreras era ends in Atlanta
When Renaissance man Ray Barreras recently departed Atlanta, the city’s fabric lost a stabilizing force.
For 50 years here, he made the complex look easy, from teaching organic chemistry at the Atlanta University Center and Morehouse School of Medicine, to manning the WABE pledge drive for decades, to a gender-busting, prolific hobby of quilt making. That list only scratches the surface of his service, mostly behind the scenes and without pay, that helped Atlanta diversify.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Atlanta, Evander Holyfield, to honor trailblazing firefighters, first black world champ middleweight boxer
Atlanta on Monday will commemorate its 50th anniversary of the hiring of the city’s first African American firefighters. Their first day of work was April 1, 1963.
There’s more to the event than meets the eye – including a total omission of the department’s integration on the city’s website.
The ceremony actually is to honor three aspects of the city’s history – the integration of the fire department; the city’s first seven African-American female firefighters, hired in 1977; and boxing champion Tiger Flowers (1895-1927), who lived in a 20-room mansion on the site where a fire station was built and where the ceremony will be observed.
Posted inLatest News
Timing will be just right for Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights
By Maria Saporta
In August, it will be the 50-year anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
And it is at the “50-year mark” when a major moment in history moves from being a memoriam to part of a legacy that can be connected to contemporary issues, according to Doug Shipman, president and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
If that’s the case, the Center’s timing is just about perfect. Construction on the Center, which will be located on the same block as the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, began on March 4.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Comedy or tragedy? Fulton legislative meeting heralds new era in county politics, government, civic theater
The latest act in the civic theater that is Fulton County began Thursday in a crowded room on the fourth floor of Georgia’s Capitol.
Republican lawmakers sat quietly while an hour’s worth of speakers protested Republican proposals to change what has been the natural order of the county – at least, it was the natural order before Republicans took effective control of the county’s legislative delegation this year.
The chorus in this case could do little to relieve tension, but the 75 who gathered certainly helped establish the mood. There were few smiles among the crowd of lawyers and lobbyists, community advocates and union reps, preachers and seniors – many of whom are familiar faces at meetings of the county commission and Atlanta City Council.
Posted inLatest News
John Lewis, civil rights leader and congressman, to be awarded with Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Prize
By Maria Saporta
The 2013 recipient of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage will be U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), a civil rights leader and public servant.
Lewis, who has become known as the conscience of the U.S. Congress, will be awarded $100,000 prize by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at a luncheon on April 4.
“John Lewis put his life on the line for many years during the 1960s to bring about equality under the law for all Americans,” said Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson in a release. “His unflinching civil rights leadership and ongoing advocacy for social change throughout his career have elevated the causes of human rights around the world. It is our privilege to honor the life and work of Congressman Lewis through the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.”
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Investment in education vital for Atlanta’s pioneering Hall-Long family
A thoughtful, private decision can change the course of a family forever.
For the Hall-Long family, known for breaking racial and social barriers in Atlanta, one major decision steered them irrevocably from agricultural roots in Rockdale County to the frontline of civil rights. Their field was education, and their specialty was pioneering.
Annette Lucille Hall, who desegregated Georgia State University, was the first-born of ten. Her closest sister, Rubye, married Ralph Abbott Long. At one point, the Longs and Halls counted 37 family members as teachers in Atlanta Public School System.
“Education is our family business,” said Susan Freeman, a granddaughter of Alonza and Fannie who is principal of McNair High School. “You could not go to a family gathering and not hear about it. You couldn’t escape it. It was innate.”
Posted inMoments, Moments Season 1
Lisa Borders’ Moment helping to integrate Westminster provided life and career lessons
Seventh grade can be an awkward time for any student, but for former Atlanta City Council President and current Grady Foundation President Lisa Borders, helping to integrate an independent private school in Atlanta made it especially challenging.
“What I learned is that I had the capacity not only be at that school, but to excel, and it taught me to deal with adverse circumstances, always,” Lisa said.
