Reverend C.K. Steele delivering speech to crowd during the "Free Bill Johnson" rally in Frenchtown - Tallahassee, Florida.

Title

• Reverend C.K. Steele delivering speech to crowd during the "Free Bill Johnson" rally in Frenchtown - Tallahassee, Florida.

Image Number

• JB00155

Year

• 1971

Date Note

• Photographed on July 31, 1971.

Series Title

• General: John Buckley collection.
• Specific: John Buckley collection Series/Collection number: N2008- 14, Photographic collection, 1969-1976 ; Box 1, M000013-B

General Note

• Accompanying note: "Rev. C.K. Steele, Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and first vice president of the SCLC under Dr. King."

Biography Note

• Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele was born on February 17, 1914 in Bluefield, West Virginia. He moved to Tallahassee in 1952 and started preaching at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Reverend Steele was one of the main organizers of the Tallahassee bus boycott that began in May 1956. He also helped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Reverend Steele died from bone marrow cancer in 1980 at the age of 66 in Tallahassee.



Biography Note

• Photographer John Buckley grew up in Newport, Rhode Island and lived with his family for a time in Canada before moving to Panama City in the early 1950s. It was in Florida schools that he became acutely aware of racism and segregation in the Deep South. These experiences would have a lasting effect on his later life as an activist and photographer. He attended Florida State University from 1963 until 1967 and graduated with a degree in physics. While at FSU, he became deeply involved in political and social movements. In addition to taking pictures, John Buckley helped organize workers' strikes in Tallahassee and worked as a platform speaker and photographer for civil rights demonstrations, anti-war rallies, anti-nuclear demonstrations, and women's rights demonstrations. He passed away on December 7, 2008.

Photographer/Personal Author

• Buckley, John, d. 2008.

Physical Description

• 1 photonegative - b&w - 35 mm.

Subject Term

• African American religious leaders--Political activity
• African American clergy--Political activity
• Civil rights demonstrations--Florida--Tallahassee
• Civil rights movements--Florida--Tallahassee
• Political activists
• African Americans--Political activity
• Political participation
• Speeches, addresses, etc
• Political prisoners
• Civil rights leaders
• African American civil rights workers--Florida--Tallahassee

Geographic Term

• Leon County (Fla.)
• Frenchtown (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Personal Subject

• Steele, C. K. (Charles Kenzie), 1914-1980--Political activity.

Subject Corporate

• Bethel Missionary Baptist Church (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

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