By Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records
Ralph David Abernathy assumed the presidency of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Roughly one year later, twelve members of Local 1199B of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in Charleston, South Carolina were fired by Medical College Hospital after trying to organize a union in the hospital. Following the dismissal, over 60 other employees walked out and began a strike that lasted through the summer. Strike leadership soon contacted the SCLC to enlist the organization’s support. Over the next several months, Abernathy, along with other civil rights leaders, conducted nonviolence training workshops for demonstrators, spoke in churches and led rallies in protest of the firings
