[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 183 Introduced in House (IH)]
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 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 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
Atlanta-based 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;
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 tenements 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, 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
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH MEMORIAL.
(a) In General.--The Ralph David Abernathy Memorial Foundation is
authorized to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of
Columbia to honor Dr. Ralph David Abernathy and the Poor People's
Campaign. The memorial shall be known as the Ralph David Abernathy Poor
People's Memorial and shall be located in Area I between the Lincoln
Memorial and the Washington Monument.
(b) Compliance With Standards for Commemorative Works.--Except as
provided in subsection (c) and section 2(c), the establishment of the
memorial shall be in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act (40
U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).
(c) Twenty-Five Year Period Inapplicable.--Section 3(c) of the
Commemorative Works Act shall not apply to the memorial established
under this Act.
SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.
(a) Construction of Memorial.--The Ralph David Abernathy Memorial
Foundation shall be solely responsible for acceptance of contributions
for, and payment of the expenses of, the construction of the memorial.
(b) Maintenance of Memorial.--Federal funds may be used to pay
expenses for the maintenance and preservation of the memorial and its
infrastructure.
(c) Offset of Costs of Maintenance of Memorial Inapplicable.--The
offset of the costs of maintenance and preservation of a memorial
required in the first sentence of section 8(b) of the Commemorative
Works Act shall not apply to the memorial established under this Act.
SEC. 3. DEPOSIT OF EXCESS FUNDS.
If, upon payment of all expenses of the construction of the
memorial, or upon expiration of the authority for the memorial under
section 10(b) of the Commemorative Works Act, there remains a balance
of funds received for the construction of the memorial, the Ralph David
Abernathy Memorial Foundation shall transmit the amount of the balance
to the Secretary of the Treasury for deposit in an account under
section 8(b)(1) of such Act for maintenance and preservation of the
memorial pursuant to section 8(b)(2) of such Act.
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