Henry Abernathy was an African American born in 1861 in Davidson County, Tennessee.

In the
1800’s, finishing school as an African American was not popular. Instead, they left school got
married and then started to work. Henry Abernathy left school in the 7th grade, got married, and
then began building houses. He was married twice and had 9 kids all together. They lived in a
house with 8 rooms and they had lights, television, and a phone. They didn’t have a bath though.
It costed them $12 a week for them all to live there. The lack of medicine and knowledge of how
to take care of a child made him lose many of his siblings and own children. Henry’s personal
beliefs in God and the bible pushed him to be the successful man he was. He believed that the
Lord had his back and he was grateful for any work he could find. He also strongly believed that
his children should get an education. Spite all of hardships he had to overcome, Henry was a
hardworking man that was happy to be alive and working.

Outline:

- Henry’s dad was also named Henry Abernathy and was a minister, carpenter, and farmer.
He had many jobs to provide for his family because pay was so low for African
Americans

- Henry had 2 sisters and a brother. All of his siblings passed before they were 40. Henry’s
dad died after they moved to New Hope. They clearly didn’t have access to proper
medicine or resources to keep their family alive.

- Henry went to school up until 7th grade then got married to Maggie Patton. He had 3
children and two of them died. He wanted her to finish school, but she got married
instead. He then married a woman named Jennie and she worked as a school teacher.
They had 6 children together. Henry wanted all of his children to finish school to ensure
them a better life than he has.

- Henry was a strong believer in Christ. He said “First thing I do in the mornin’ is read a
chapter of the bible. That why I ain’t never without work.” [pg. 1] He built and
remodeled houses for his career. He believed in hard work and keeping his word to his
fellow neighbors. This says a lot about Henry considering his circumstances and things
he had to go through.

- His wife thought he pushed his kids too much and didn’t allow them space to grow. He
just wanted them to work for him and to teach them how to make money. One day when
he was working on a house he was laid off. Henry decided that was the last day he was
going to work for another man. He never gave up and wanted to continue to try and make
the best of situations.

- He was also a strong believer in voting. He thought that it was so special to have the right
to vote that it’s not acceptable to not. Not many African Americans believed this because
they didn’t feel as if their vote would do anything.
- Henry had a wrench dropped on his head while at work and he prayed to God to help him
get through the pain and that he would be ok. Again, shows his strong belief and doesn’t
allow his faith to waiver based on his hardships.