born March 11, 1926, Linden, Ala., U.S.
died April 17, 1990, Atlanta, Ga.
U.S. pastor and civil rights leader.
He was educated at Alabama State University and Atlanta University. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1948, he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., in 1951. He met civil rights movement . In 1957 they founded the {{link=Southern Christian Leadership Conference">Southern Christian Leadership Conference . Abernathy became its president on King's assassination in 1968; in 1977 he resigned to resume work as a pastor in Atlanta. His autobiography, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down , appeared in 1989.