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Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I have taken a look at the material that was on multiple occasions submitted last year by User:Donzaleigh and User:Madamewus, who stated she is a friend of Abernathy. I have done this in the hopes that some text could be salvaged for an article that is now little more than a list of media appearances. Here is my analysis:
"...received critical acclaim from Critic Roger Ebert ... for her performance ... [in] 'GODS AND GENERALS'". Ebert's review does mention Abernathy, but there is no critical acclaim to be had. In fact, of her appearance, his statement "we realize material of such scope and breadth can be shoehorned into 3-1/2 hours only by sacrificing depth" suggests that her scenes (although not the performance itself) are lackluster.
"She starred for 4 years on the critically acclaimed LIFETIME TELEVISION series, ANY DAY NOW as SARAH". IMDB lists her as having appeared in four episodes over the course of four years. This is, by no stretch, something that could be described as "starring for 4 years". The series has received acclaim, although it is not attributed to Abernathy.
"...her first book, "Partners To History, Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and the Civil Rights Movement," was nominated as one of the BEST BOOKS of 2004 by the American Library Association". Other online bios clarify this by stating that it was nominated as one of the best books for young adults for that year. The ALA website does not mention this book as one of the 84 winners for that year. The statement could still be partially correct in that the book could be one of the other 123 "official nominees" for young adult books that did not make the cut. It could also very well simply be one of the over 900 submissions made to the ALA that year. I could not find evidence either way.
"...major public speaker...". There are many mentions on the internet of her being a public speaker, although "major" is a term that is open to some interpretation. Of several examples, she was the keynote speaker at the 2008 UMass Dartmouth Martin Luther King breakfast, the first keynote speaker at the 2008 National Association of Women Judges Annual Conference, the keynote speaker at the 25th annual community breakfast at Quinsigamond Community College and I have found that she is officially represented by a talent agency as a professional public speaker. Some of these credits may be very minor. For instance, "introducing Rosa Parks at the 45[th] Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott", while personally fulfilling, may not warrant mention in an encyclopedia article. Indeed, a fairly decent overview of the event makes no mention of Donzaleigh Abernathy.
She has appeared on Politically Incorrect, and it's likely that she has made appearances on other talk and news shows.
In conclusion, this article is worthy of expansion. The subject is mentioned in many reliable sources, and there is a storied life mentioned in some of them. However, the exaggerations, sometimes bordering on outright lies likely added by Abernathy and her friend are a prime example of the dangers of writing for Wikipedia when you have a conflict of interest. Steamroller Assault (talk) 00:15, 6 July 2011 (UTC)Reply
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