Description: This is Charles looking away
Image copyright: http://www.africanamericans.com/images2/CharlesKenzieSteele.jpg
a.k.a.
C.K. Steele
Charles Kenzie Steele was born in 1914, in Bluefield, WV. He wanted to be a minister when he was a young boy, so he used to serve the churches in Montgomery, Alabama and Augusta. Steele became a pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida in 1952; where he stayed until he passed away which was in 1980 in Florida. Charles was a civil rights activist who was a good friend of Martin Luther King Jr. He was the key person for the Tallahassee Bus Boycott. Steele was an overlooked figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He is the only Civil Rights Activist that has a statue in Florida’s capital. Professor Gregory Padgett said, “Unlike some leaders, he not only brought about change, but helped heal the community.”
Charles Kenzie Steele is important to me because he made it possible for black people to ride the bus without fear. This is important to me as a young black person because now it is alright for me to go to places I want to without getting in trouble with white people.
The mark that this hero, Charles Kenzie Steele, made on this world is that he organized the bus boycott in Tallassee in Florida. Leroy Collins says, “The boycott hurt black people more than it did white people, in the sense that they needed that service more than white people did. But it showed the people of this community that they were very determined to right this wrong."
References
1. Charles, Kenzie Steele. African American Biographies. #9. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier, 2006.
2. "C.K. Steele." Top 50 Most Important Floridians. 1998. 8 Feb 2007 http://www.theledger.com/static/top50/pages/steele.html
3. "Charles Steele." Fact Monster. 2000-2007. 8 Feb 2007 http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0921231.html
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