The Pasadena Public Library will host author Donzaleigh Abernathy as she presents her book “Partners to History: Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and the Civil Rights Movement,” on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Lamanda Park Branch Library.
Reverend Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were inseparable and together helped to establish what would become the modern American Civil Rights Movement. They preached, marched and were frequently jailed together.
This program captures in words and pictures how the dream of these two visionaries changed the course of American history. Attendance is free of charge.
Also an actress, author and civil rights activist, Donzaleigh Abernathy is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy and Juanita Jones Abernathy, who was quite famous for being actively involved in the creation and strategies of the Civil Rights Movement and in present-day civil and human rights efforts until her death on Sept. 12, 2019.
Donzaleigh’s mother was pregnant with her when her parents’ home was bombed in the early morning of January 10, 1957 after the successful close of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She was born trembling in the segregated St. Jude’s Hospital Montgomery, Alabama and lived in the city through the Freedom Riders, until her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1962 at the request of Martin Luther King, Jr., so that her father could continue co-leading the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King.
In 1965, after participating in “The Selma to Montgomery March for the Right To Vote,” the Abernathy children, along with the King children, integrated Spring Street Elementary School and began mass integration of public schools in the South. Abernathy briefly attended the Northside High School for the Performing Arts, before attending and graduating from George School, a Quaker Prep School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
For accessibility information and requests for Saturday’s event, contact the Lamanda Park Branch Library at (626) 744-7266. Provide at least 72 hours advance notice to help ensure availability.
Lamanda Park Branch Library is at 140 S. Altadena Drive in Pasadena.
