C.K. Steele Bus Plaza, on the corner of West Tennessee and Duval Street, is an architectural gem with an incredible history.
The Reverend Dr. Charles Kenzie Steele was a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, pastor of Tallahassee’s esteemed Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, one of the principal organizers of the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott, and a member of the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The C.K. Steele Plaza includes a suite of stained glass windows from the original Bethel Church building, which emancipated men and women built for themselves in 1870, and which stood for over one hundred years as a testament to their strength, faith, and dedication to economic and social justice, a mission that continues. Across from the Bethel windows stands a dedicatory plaque honoring Rosa Parks with a quote from Chapter 30 of the Book of Isaiah – “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”