ATLANTA — The West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Northwest Atlanta, a site deeply rooted in the Civil Rights movement, may soon be designated as a National Historic Site.
Located on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, the 119-year-old stone sanctuary played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.
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“My father-in-law and mother-in-law, Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy and Juanita Jones Abernathy, moved to Atlanta in 1961 by a request of the King family. Daddy King specifically wanted Martin to come back to Atlanta,” said Annette Abernathy.
Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy moved to Atlanta and became past of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church.
Annette Abernathy says it became the “work space” for the Civil Rights Movement. Plans were made here, marchers were fed and church was held every Sunday.
It later laid abandoned for years, but a $4 million restoration is nearly complete.
Annette Abernathy says all that remains is to officially designate this landmark as a National Historic Site in the care of the National Park Service.
She says it should be preserved now and for all time to help inspire the next generation.
“Martin and Ralph were very young when they did what they did, and were unafraid to do it. We may never have another Ralph or another Martin, but we ‘do’ have potential leaders who can take the helm and move forward,” Abernathy said.
Georgia’s U.S. senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock recently reintroduced the legislation to establish the church as a national historic site.
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