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Ralph David Abernathy

o provide a secure life for his family so that, in spite of racism and "Jim Crow" laws, "we walked in safety and were treated courteously by whites who knew my father and recognized in his fierce gaze a strength and independence that they either admired or turned away from in fear and shame" (9-10). Of the many words of advise given him by his father, perhaps the most memorable were: "David, if you ever see a good fight, get in it--and win it" (10). They were to be recalled later in Montgomery.

Abernathy recounts that although his father counselled the children "never to play with white children. 'If you do . . . every joke will be at your expense. If your wrestle or box with a white child, you will always have to let him win, otherwise he may become aggravated, and that could lead to trouble" (28-29). Little did he know at the time just how prophetic the words were. According to Abernathy,

We were also perfectly content to drink out of our own water fountains and to enter and exit by doors marked "COLORED." We were so secure in the honor accorded our family that we didn't consider such practices demeaning or even important. If white people wanted their own fountains and doors, that was just fine with us (29).

But such an existence was an uncommon experience:

It is important to understand that the community I grew up in and the privileged status we enjoyed were not to be found everywhere, certainly not in the larger towns and cities of the South, or for that matter in places like New York, Chicago, or Detroit. In a rural area where land was available to people who were willing to work for it, it was possible for a few blacks to enjoy both freedom and a kind of equality--one based on mutual respect and a certain standoffishness (31).

And it led to the understanding that, "It was our destiny, our burden--not only at human beings but as black Americans--to live beyond the dignity of our father's house, in...

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Ralph David Abernathy. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:05, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700732.html