Date of Award
1-1-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in History
First Advisor
Ted Ownby
Second Advisor
Charles K. Ross
Third Advisor
Rebecca K. Marchiel
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
In the spring of 1968, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. robbed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of its president and left the civil rights movement without its symbolic leader, an individual capable of uniting diverse groups, such as middle-class Black professionals, white liberals, and members of other civil rights organizations, under the common cause of equality. Ralph David Abernathy inherited the burden of succeeding a genuine icon of the movement just before the launch of SCLC’s most ambitious direct-action campaign since the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. Abernathy and two of his colleagues, Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young, continued to push for social change in the 1970s and 1980s. Following King’s assassination, each of these men considered which direction he should take to fulfill the unfinished goals articulated by the man they served with before his death. All three men recognized the movement’s evolution from nonviolent demonstrations to political campaigns in the 1970s, but each man carved out his own direction to participate in this new phase of civil rights. This dissertation tells the stories of these three leaders by examining specific moments—the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, SCLC’s involvement in the Charleston hospital strike of 1969, questions about SCLC leadership in the 1970s, Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in 1988, Andrew Young’s campaign for governor of Georgia in 1990, and the controversies over Ralph David Abernathy’s 1989 autobiography.
Recommended Citation
Blusiewicz, Scott, "King's Disciples: Ralph David Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young and the Pursuit of Social Change, 1968-1990" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3248.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/3248