HOHENFELS, Germany -- Juandalynn R. Abernathy, daughter of the co-founder of the Civil Rights Movement, Reverend Dr. Ralph D. Abernathy, visited Hohenfels to share her unique perspective on growing up during the movement's volatile beginnings at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance held at the Hohenfels Middle/High School, recently.
In his last speech, King said, "Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world," and Juandalynn grew up referring to King as "Uncle Martin." Their families shared vacations, holidays, swim meets and festivals.
"We were always together," Juandalynn said. "From the beginning, through the end, we were together as families, the Kings and the Abernathys."
Juandalynn related how her father received a call from NAACP president Edgar Nixon on the day Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white patron.
"(Nixon) asked my father to organize the people and get the word out that the black citizens of Montgomery were not going to ride the bus system on Monday," Juandalynn said. "And (Nixon) told him to call the new pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. King, and have him help … get the word out."
Shortly afterwards, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed, with King elected president, and Abernathy as treasurer.
"And the rest was history," Juandalynn said. "For 381 days not one black citizen rode the bus system in Montgomery. The bus company filed bankruptcy, the seating policy changed, and the modern Civil Rights Movement began."
Growing up in the American south as daughter to a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement was not easy. Abernathy was arrested 44 times, beaten, threatened, and the family home was bombed when Juandalynn was barely a year old.
"They planted three sticks of dynamite around our house," Juandalynn said. "They blew that house up, but I've been told that I never awakened."
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
"Daddy was on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel when Uncle Martin was shot," Juandalynn said. "He would not leave Uncle Martin's body at the hospital. They sanitized him, and he put on scrubs and witnessed the surgery to try and save Uncle Martin's life. Uncle Martin died in my father's arms."
After King's death, Abernathy assumed leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and presidency of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He continued to work for civil rights until his death in 1990.
"Through their efforts they achieved minimum wage, non-discrimination of public transit, the right to vote, the Open Housing Act, just to name a few," Juandalynn said.
"The lessons I learned from my family and from the time period, I carry with me everywhere I go," she added.
Juandalynn, an accomplished opera, concert and African-American spirituals singer, began her vocal studies in the U.S. where she earned a master's degree at Boston Conservatory of Music. Following a number of opera engagements in the U.S. she received a scholarship to study German at the Goethe-Institute in Munich. She continued her vocal studies in Stuttgart, Luxemburg and Italy, and today tours the world where she enthralls audiences with her repertoire of songs in multiple languages.
"I have lived in Germany for over 30 years," Juandalynn said. "I've had the privilege of traveling around the world, and I have never been anywhere where I have not been reminded of the color of my skin."
"Racism is alive and well in the world, and we cannot accept any part of it," she said. "1950 was not that long ago."
Juandalynn stressed that the history of the Civil Rights Movement must never be forgotten, that the sacrifices made and the blood spilled led to positive change, and that change in America led to change across the globe.
"Every protest movement, regardless of the subject matter, they have all been influenced the American Civil Rights Movement," she said.
"But history did not begin or end with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Ralph Abernathy," Juandalynn said. "History is made every day and the rest of it has yet to be told. We must believe that each one of us can have a part in making new history."
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