Daughter of Rev. Ralph Abernathy speaks during USM lecture series

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - The daughter of American civil rights icon Rev. Ralph David Abernathy spoke at an annual event at the University of Southern Mississippi Tuesday night.

Author and actress Donzaleigh Abernathy spoke at the 30th annual Armstrong-Branch Distinguished Lecture at the Thad Cochran Center.

Abernathy’s father and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the American civil rights movement.

The lecture series honors Raylawni Adams Branch and Gwendolyn Armstrong-Chamberlain, the first African-American students to attend Southern Miss in 1965.

Abernathy talked about the history of the civil rights movement and how it changed the nation.

“What made it so great was the power of love and redemption and reconciliation, which is what we need today, now more than ever, because, I feel like our nation is sort of at a crossroads, and we’ve got to find a way to come back together, so it’s ‘we the people,’ of all races, of all religions, coming together to live up to the principles upon which our nation was founded,” said Abernathy.

The Armstrong-Branch Lecture Series was established in 1993.

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