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Reverend C.K. Steele delivering speech to crowd during the "Free Bill Johnson" rally in Frenchtown - Tallahassee, Florida.
Image Number
Photographer
Date
Date Note
Collection
Series/Collection number: N2008- 14, Photographic collection, 1969-1976 ; Box 1, M000013-B
Geographic Term
Subject Term
African American clergy--Political activity
Civil rights demonstrations--Florida--Leon County--Tallahassee
Civil rights movements--Florida--Leon County--Tallahassee
Political activists
African Americans--Political activity
Political participation
Speeches, addresses, etc
Political prisoners
Civil rights leaders
African American civil rights workers--Florida--Leon County--Tallahassee
Personal Subjects
Corporate Subject
Physical Description
General Note
Edward Allen Johnson Jr., 19, was arrested on June 2, 1970 for the May 18, 1970 firebombing of the Tallahassee Furniture Company building. He was a member of the Tallahassee branch of the Malcolm X United Liberation Front (established in Tallahassee in early 1970). The group held numerous public demonstrations to free him, including a 7-day conference at Florida A&M University in September 1970. Spokesmen for the Liberation Front often referred to Johnson as a "political prisoner."
Accompanying note: "Rev. C.K. Steele, Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and first vice president of the SCLC under Dr. King."
Biographical 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.
Buckley's photography focused primarily on civil rights demonstrations, anti-war rallies, anti-nuclear demonstrations, and women's rights demonstrations.
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Chicago Manual of Style
Buckley, John Charles, 1945-2008. Reverend C.K. Steele delivering speech to crowd during the "Free Bill Johnson" rally in Frenchtown - Tallahassee, Florida. 1971. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/130642>, accessed 7 June 2026.
MLA
Buckley, John Charles, 1945-2008. Reverend C.K. Steele delivering speech to crowd during the "Free Bill Johnson" rally in Frenchtown - Tallahassee, Florida. 1971. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/130642>
AP Style Photo Citation
(State Archives of Florida/Buckley)
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