Charles Kenzie Steele
Charles Kenzie Steele (born February 17, 1914 in Bluefield, West Virginia; died August 19, 1980 in Tallahassee, Florida) was a preacher and a civil rights activist. He was one of the main organizers of the Tallahassee bus boycott, and a prominent member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Steele was the son of a coal miner, and at a young age he knew that he wanted to be a preacher and he first started preaching when he was 15 years old. Steele graduated from Morehouse College in 1938. He then began preaching in and Augusta, Georgia and also in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1952 Steele moved to Tallahassee when he was 38 years old, where he started preaching at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Steele met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was on his way to Tallahassee. He was the only child in the small family he grew up in.
The Tallahassee bus boycott began in May, 1956, during the Montgomery bus boycott. Like other bus boycotts during the Civil Rights Movement in America, it started because black people were forced to ride in the back of the bus, and when two students refused to give up their seat to a white woman, they were arrested. An organization was formed to protest and boycott against the city bus system. The organization was called Inter-civic Council and Steele was elected president. Steele and other protesters boycotted the system by starting car pools and the bus system had stopped for the first time in 17 years on July 1. Steele was arrested many times during this period. The people in Tallahassee thought that the protesters' demands were outrageous. Steele and the other protesters met a lot of rich and influential opposition. The City commissioners were determined in opposition to make the buses integrated. The bus system was integrated two years later.
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