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Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, 1997
Page
of 5
Source
State Archives of Florida, Collection N2015-7
Description
The program includes a biographical sketch of Martin Luther King; information about Mothers in Crisis, Inc.; the biography of Bishop Adam J. Robinson, Jr.; the order of the day's events; and the genesis of the Tallahassee chapter of the SCLC.
Date
1997-01-19
Contributors
Format
Topic
Subjects
Geographic Term
BH Clausell
28th SCLC-Citywide
Celebration
commemorating the
68th Birthday
of
the Reverend Doctor
Martin
Luther
King, Jr.
National Theme:
"Make Real the Dream, Frame the Vision for the 21st Century"
Sunday, January 19, 1997
Six-thirty in the Evening
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
501 West Orange Avenue
Tallahassee, Florida
Title
Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, 1997
Subject
Festivals, Events and Conferences
Episcopal Church -- Florida
Celebrations
Description
The program includes a biographical sketch of Martin Luther King; information about Mothers in Crisis, Inc.; the biography of Bishop Adam J. Robinson, Jr.; the order of the day's events; and the genesis of the Tallahassee chapter of the SCLC.
Creator
NuDay Graphics (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Source
State Archives of Florida, Collection N2015-7
Date
1997-01-19
Contributor
Richardson, Adam Jefferson, Jr.
Format
programs
Language
eng-US
Type
Text
Identifier
n2015-7_b001_f12_02
Coverage
Late 20th-Century Florida (1968-2000)
Geographic Term
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Leon County (Fla.)
Thumbnail
/fmp/selected_documents/thumbnails/n2015-7_b001_f12_02.jpg
ImageID
n2015-7_b001_f12_02_01
n2015-7_b001_f12_02_02
n2015-7_b001_f12_02_03
n2015-7_b001_f12_02_04
n2015-7_b001_f12_02_05
topic
Religion And Churches
Subject - Corporate
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Subject - Person
King, Martin Luther, -- Jr., -- 1929-1968
Richardson, A. J.
Wright, Joseph
Clausell, Bernyce Hall, 1916-2015
Transcript
BH Clausell
28th SCLC-Citywide
Celebration
commemorating the
68th Birthday
of
the Reverend Doctor
Martin
Luther
King, Jr.
National Theme:
"Make Real the Dream, Frame the Vision for the 21st Century"
Sunday, January 19, 1997
Six-thirty in the Evening
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
501 West Orange Avenue
Tallahassee, Florida
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Influenced by several well-known persons, young Martin followed his father's profession and entered the ministry. While attending Boston University, he met and married Coretta Scott, a graduate of Antioch College. Two years later, he received the Ph.D.
Dr. King served as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Seeing the conditions among his race worsening, he organized the [first] of many civil rights protest movements. In 1955, an incident occurred which involved an African American woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks, who was jailed because she would not give up her seat to a white man. The Montgomery Improvement Association was quickly organized, with King being elected its president. Under his leadership they formed a bus boycott. The following year the Supreme Court handed down its decision declaring that separate areas for riders on public vehicles is unconstitutional.
In the course of his thirteen-year crusade during the fifties and sixties, King was imprisoned more than thirty times. In 1957 he formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to carry the civil rights crusade throughout the country.
In 1963 he was selected by Time Magazine as Man of the Year. During the same year, Dr. King was a prime force in the successful march on Washington for jobs, justice and peace. Here he made his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. The following year he won the coveted Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest American in history to gain this high honor. It was awarded to him for his dedication to achieving equal rights for African Americans by preaching a program of nonviolent protest.
King was also the author of several popular books, including Strides Toward Freedom, Why We Can't Wait, and Where Do We Go From Here?
On April 4, 1968, while he was in Memphis, Tennessee supporting striking workers, he was shot and killed by an assassin's rifle bullet. Dr. King's death was mourned by people of all races throughout the world.
In tribute to Dr. King the United States Congress, on October 19, 1983, approved the nation's tenth federal holiday - the third Monday in January, beginning in 1986 - to honor the man whose nonviolent leadership brought all classes of people together to remove racial barriers in the United States.
MOTHERS IN CRISIS, INC.
Mothers in Crisis, Inc. (M.I.C.), is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization comprised of mothers from drug and alcohol [addiction]. M.I.C. links families and communities together to create networks of support and encouragement for families to live drug free lives. M.I.C. offers education and outreach intervention services to low income families in crisis because of drug and alcohol abuse.
M.I.C. presented the first Recovering Mothers Panel Discussion at Apalachee Center for Human Services in October 1989. The first M.I.C. Chapter of Recovering Mothers was organized in Tallahassee, Florida in April 1991. Subsequently, M.I.C. organized a chapter in Detroit, Michigan and produced two national newsletters reaching families in crises across the nation. Mothers In Crisis currently provides prison outreach services at the Gadsden County Correctional Institution, and home visits, community based parenting and drug education support groups, to families in crises living in the City of Tallahassee. M.I.C. also presents panel discussions and workshops at various conferences, churches, and community organizations throughout the United States.
Mothers in Crisis believes key solutions to the drug epidemic in our communities are: prevention, intervention, and treatment. It takes everyone working together to make [a] difference in the lives of families in crises.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr. is a native of Tampa, Florida. He is a graduate of Middletown Senior High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion at Florida A&M University, the Master of Divinity from Turner Theological Seminary and the Doctor of Sacred Theology, via the Atlanta Theological Association, and Emory University.
Our speaker has successfully served six congregations in Georgia, the Florida [sic]. His last pastorate was Bethel A.M.E. Church, Tallahassee, Florida. He served this congregation from 1978 to 1996. Under his able leadership more than 2,000 members were received into Bethel Church. Under his leadership a "Worship, Study and Community Complex" was constructed on seven acre tract, at a cost of $1.8 million.
Bishop Richardson is a speaker and preacher in great demand. Some of the places he has spoken are: Savannah State College, Wilberforce University, Ohio, Florida A&M University, Florida State University, Lincoln High School, Tallahassee, Florida; Grand Ridge High School, Grand Ridge, Florida; Madison County High School, Madison, Florida; Religious Emphasis at Morris Brown College, Paul Quinn College, and Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Florida. Our speaker has preached at the Biennial Lay Convention, Detroit; AME General Conference, Kansas City; AME General Conference, Ft. Worth, and every Episcopal District in the continental United States, Bermuda and Trinidad, Ghana; Kenya and Zambia, National Primitive Baptist Convention, Atlanta, Georgia; Congress of Christian Education General Missionary Baptist Convention of Florida, at Ft. Lauderdale; Turner Theological Seminary, Atlanta.
Our speaker has served on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological center, Atlanta, Georgia; Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Georgia; Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida; and the Tallahassee Bible Institute. In addition our speaker has served as chair of the Eleventh Episcopal District Board of Examiners and the Florida Annual Conference Board of Examiners.
Bishop Richardson is also a community leader. He has served on the Advisory Committee, Equal Education Employment Opportunity, State University System of Florida; appointed to the State of Florida Adoptions Advisory Council; Board member, Florida's One Church, One Child and Charter member of the National Board; Chair of the Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) of Florida One Church, One Child, District 2; Founding Chair of the Board of Directors of Bethel Community Development Corporation; and Past President, Tallahassee Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (TIMA).
Our speaker has been active in several civic organizations. These include, Leadership Georgia (Georgia Chamber of Commerce); Tallahassee Branch NAACP; Tallahassee Chapter, Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Tallahassee Urban League; Former Candidate Leon County Commission; Member of the Florida Delegation National Democratic Convention, Atlanta, Georgia and Delegate, World Methodist Conference, Singapore.
Bishop Richardson has received numerous recognitions to include Florida A&M University Distinguished Alumni Award 1991; Florida A&M University's College of Arts and Sciences Gallery of Distinction, 1987; and Head Drum Major, Florida A&M University's famed Marching
"100" Band.
Bishop Richardson has traveled extensively in Bermuda, Trinidad, Bahama Islands, Canada, England, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Namibia, Nigeria, [Cote D'Ivoire] and Liberia[.]
Our speaker is an author and has co-authored The Pastor's Manual along with Dr. George L. Champion, and he has personally published: Wedding Manual, 1994; Funeral Manual, 1995 and Take Me To The Water: A Manual for Christian Baptism.
Bishop Richardson is married to the former Connie Speights of Marianna, Florida, and is the father of two children, a daughter Monique and a son Adam "Trey."
THE ORDER OF SERVICE
The Rev. Joseph Wright
Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
Presiding
THE CALL TO WORSHIP.......
The Rev. Melvin Bell
Leader: This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
People: The Lord's name be praised. Amen.
THE OPENING HYMN
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise high as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of a new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
We have come, treading our path thru the blood of the slaughtered.
Out of the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the bright gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on our way;
Thou who has by thy might led us into the light,
Keep us fore'er in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
THE INVOCATION...........
Paster Hippar Chapel AME
The Rev. W.D.Young
THE WELCOME AND RECOGNITION OF GUESTS.......
The Rev. R.L. Wilson
THE RESPONSIVE READING
The Rev. Robert Jones: Under the host Atlanta sun, in the Midst of blue waters, the white sepulcher rests. The words carved in marble do not ring or echo off the glass towers of the cities or roll across the quilted plains of our overflowing blessedness.
The Rev. W.O. Hobbs: The shadowed fist of hatred and violence has shattered and stilled the music of his voice, and now his words in silence, mute as stones, await the kindling flame of those who, like himself, can banish fear into its narrow cell and loose the soul for love's unconquerable power.
People: Who dares to lift the song of justice in unjust and dangerous times...
The Rev. David Henderson: ...when unspoken an unadmitted fear sends us bowing down to the shadow gods which the hidden courage of the heart holds in contempt?
People: Who dares to lift up the song of justice in these times?
The Rev. James Simon: Once the bells of freedom have run, once one person has stood fearless before the smooth and sightless engine of oppression.
People: ...and felt the crosshairs of the rifle sighted on his brow...
The Rev. Carl Murray: ...once one person has stood without fear before injustice and felt the focused aim of death, and yet gone on, once justice has begun to roll down like waters — only then can love become sovereign and rule gently from sea to shining sea in this sweet land of liberty. Your daughters and your sons stand before their God and fear flees away. Mightly love of Christ, descend into their souls as a flock of doves might glide onto the shining meadows of the dawn.
People: Amen.
The Rev. David Horton: Indeed, the afterglow of dawn yet paints the rising peaks behind us with roses and with pearls. Let us descend the downward slopes into the valleys of the kingdom.
People: Amen.
The Rev. Glenn Bass: Cradle your brothers, lift up your sisters, bind up the wounded.
People: Amen.
The Rev. Kenneth Barrington: Lift up the pipes of peace and shoulder, each one, the cross beams of or [sic] victory. For we shall build anew the cities of our God and rap the harvest of God's joy among the valley of grace.
People: Amen
The Rev. Evelyn Corbin: Each one shall help the other, and we shall be keepers of each and every precious child of God. The blood that flows among us will not touch the soil, but rather, like a singing river that draws a silver circle around a sacred isle, it will bind us to one another in one sacred unity of gentleness and love.
People: Amen
Rev. William Proctor: The dawn has come at last. The pealing of the freedom bells cascades from the hills and rolls like mighty rivers into the desert of the past. In our midst the light has dwelt and journeyed with us through the grief and sorrows, the joys and love of our pilgrimage.
People: Amen
The Rev. Emory Hingst: Let that light now shine from every face of every child, from every brother and every sister, every father, every mother — that every continent of this verdant earth shall be strewn with the glowing fires of freedom and liberty. And the glory of the heavens will be envious of the jeweled earth, which will chart its course among the fiery novas of the universe.
All: Amen and Amen.
THE OLD TESTAMENT...Ezekiel 2: Rev. B.H. Clausell...
The Rev.
THE NEW TESTAMENT...I Corinthians 13:...
The Rev. Jim McWhinnie
St. Paul United Methodist Church
THE ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...
Mrs. Sharon Ofuani
Director of Equal Opportunity
City of Tallahassee
Selection [?] Chorus
THE OFFERTORY APPEAL...
The Rev. Robert Jones
St. James CME Church
THE OFFERTORY PRAYER...
The Rev. Stanley Walker
Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church
Selection New Mt. Zion [?] Choir
THE OFFERTORY...
Elected Officials
THE INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER...
The Rev. R.N. Gooden
President
Tallahassee Chapter, SCLC
Selection - Men's Chorus]
THE SPEAKER...
Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson, Jr.
Presiding Bishop, 14th Episcopal District
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The Civil Rights Anthem
We Shall Overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome someday.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome some day.
We'll walk hand in hand...
Black and white together...
The truth will make us free...
We shall ive [sic] in peace...
We shall overcome...
The Benediction...
The Rev. Bryant Copeland
Bishop A.J. Richardson
He hopes the M.L.K. Day will be a time of reflection:
1787 Constitutional Convention also A.M.E. church evolved - via Richard Allen
1863 - Wilberforce U. - first university for Black people.
1954 - Oliver Brown - A.M.E.
1955 - Rosa Brown - A.M.E.
It's appropriate for us to be here.
Gods [sic] Liberation Agenda
Exodus 5th + 6th chapters
Liberation book
God's agenda for liberation
1. We are called to be a God - centered people.
We are called from the [?] of oppression - that we may celebrate the liberators
We need the Lord
1st item on liberation agenda is God
This movement began with a call to worship.
The [?] of the movement [?] King's
[?] to include God.
2. We are called to be Family [?]
Every person is our Kith + Kin
You can't hardly hurt people unless
you hurt yourself.
Best way for father to look after his
kids is to love their mother
Jesus told the cured man to "Go Home" and
witness what God hath done for you.
If u [sic] want to serve your community - start with the children.
3. [sic]
3. We are called to be economically empowered.
Hebrew people in slavery.
Everybody had a job!, but it was to enrich the Egyptians.
1 in every 8 people in U.S. is Black.
Dennis [?]
We need to teach our dollars some sense.
THE GENESIS OF THE TALLAHASSEE CHAPTER OF THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
A.J. Richardson, Jr.
The year was 1956, only five months following the Rosa Parks incident that gave rise to the bus boycott of Montgomery, AL and the impetus to the Civil Rights Movement nationwide. This Movement would catapult Martin Luther King, Jr. into international recognition and prominence. Tallahassee would have its own notables.
The days seemed apocalyptic. University students and personnel, church and community leaders braced themselves for a protracted challenge to American apartheid, a system that for far too long had permitted the humiliation of second-class citizenship for African Americans in Tallahassee and neighboring communities. Not surprisingly, but fortuitously, the impetus for this confrontation would come from college students.
On the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the protest held at FAMU, Dr. Charles U. Smith made the following observation: "During the late 1950's and the beginning of the 1960's college students throughout the United States took an active interest in the affairs of the nation and the world. Especially was this true among students at Florida A&M University. They became actively involved in securing equal rights for all by participating in bus boycotts, picketing and sit-in demonstrations. Their behavior was precipitated by the arrest of two 'hot and tired' FAMU coeds who sat next to a white woman on a crowded city bus. From this unplanned and fortuitous event arose the Tallahassee Bus Protest which had vast implications in changing the attitudes of both Blacks and Whites in the city of Tallahassee as well as the State of Florida."1
Saturday, May 27, 1956 that Wilhelmina Jakes Street of Ft. Myers and Carrie E. Patterson (now deceased) of Americus, Georgia were arrested on a city bus on charges of "placing themselves in position to incite a riot." They were released on $25 bond. By 10 p.m. a cross had been burned in the yard of Mrs. Eloise Kendrick, the owner of the home at 123 Jennings Street where the young women lived off campus.
In almost knee-jerk fashion, the bus boycott was in effect. Sixty to seventy percent of the bus patrons had been African American. Now, with encouragement from FAMU students, the buses were already virtually empty. On May 29, the Tallahassee Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (TIMA) met at Bethel AME Church, where the Rev. H. McNeil Harris was pastor. The ministers, along with other eminent persons from the community, collaborated to address the bus situation. The group decided that a citywide meeting of the black community would be called that evening to determine what course of action should ensue.
Later in the day, a delegation of nine persons held talks with the city manager and the manager of the bus company. The delegation had a three point. However, the bus company manager took the position that since the bus company operated under a franchise from the city, he could do nothing without the city's consent.
That evening, an overflow crowd gathered at Bethel Baptist Church, organized the Inter-Civic Council (ICC), elected the Rev. Charles Kenzie Steele, Bethel's pastor as president, and voted unanimously to boycott the city buses. The Council pledged itself to nonviolent and legal resistance to segregation on the buses and outlined three objectives, namely: the seating of passengers on a "first come, first served basis"; the employment of African American bus drivers; and more courteous treatment of African American patrons on the buses. Plans were made to organize a car pool to transport persons who otherwise would ride the buses.
The boycott proved successful. At midnight on June 30, the Transit Company discontinued all bus services in Tallahassee. Bus service resumed on August 2 with black drivers assigned to the FAMU - Frenchtown run. But the struggle was long from over and the protest persisted as concessions had not been made regarding the seating arrangements on the buses.
The backlash resulted in arrests, unreasonable bails, city ordinances considered and legal schemes plotted to stymie the carpool operation; cross burnings, window [smashings], shot gun blasts and an all out attempt by the Florida Legislature to curb the activities of the NAACP. Some twenty-one persons were arrested. Among them were the Reverends Steele, Dan Speed and King Solomon DuPont. Tampa attorney, Francisco Rodriquez represented the Council. DuPont, a presiding elder in the AME Church, would become the first African American to run for a seat on the City Commission in the election of February 1957. He eventually lost the race but the ICC had managed to register some 13,400 new voters.2
During the week of December 16, 1956 integration of the buses in Montgomery, AL began after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional. While it took several months to actualize that ruling in Tallahassee, it eventually happened. The famous photo of the bus riders under new conditions are late Rev. C. K. Steele of Bethel Baptist Church, and the late Rev. H. McNeil Harris of Bethel AME Church.
In 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. One of the persons to rise to national acclaim was the Rev. C. K. Steele. Tallahassee's Inter-Civic Council adopted the new name and national affiliation. In the intervening years, others have accepted the torch, but the SCLC has continued to champion the cause of the poor and [disenfranchised], challenge injustice with direct action and protest. It has been dubbed the "alter ego of the church." Indeed, it was the church that gave it birth. From this connection it has never strayed.
1. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Observance of the Tallahassee Bus Boycott, The Charles U. Smith Seminars, Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Human Services, Florida A&M, 1981.
2. Adapted from Charles U. Smith and Lewis M. Killian, The Tallahassee Bus Protest, (New York, NY: Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, 1958), pp. 7-15.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sincere gratitude is extended to all persons and organizations for support of, and financial contributions to this community effort.
Congregational Sponsors
Allen Temple CME Church
Anderson Chapel AME Church
Bethel AME Church
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Calvary [Missionary] Baptist Church
Faith Presbyterian Church
First Institutional Baptist Church
First Presbyterian Church
Flipper Chapel AME Church
Fountain Chapel AME Church
Innovation Baptist Church
Jacob Chapel Free Will Baptist Church
Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
Metropolitan Cathedral of Truth
St. Paul AME Church
Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church
New Mt. Zion AME Church
New St. John AME Church
Philadelphia Primitive Baptist Church
St. James CME Church
St. John Missionary Baptist Church
St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church
St. Michaels and All Angels Episcopal Church
St. Paul United Methodist
St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church
Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church
Trinity United Methodist
United Church of Tallahassee
Reception Sponsor
Hosted by the Bethel A.M.E. Church
The SCLC Citywide Martin Luther King, Jr.
Celebration Committee
The Rev. Joseph Wright, Chair
Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
The Rev. Emory A Hingst, Treasurer
St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church
Celebration Steering Committee
Rev. Bernyce Clausell
Mrs. Anita Favors
The Rev. W. Robert Jones
The Rev. R.B. Holmes
Elder R.N.Gooden
The Rev. David Henderson
Rev. Vincent Lewis
Dr. J.L. Byrd
The Rev. Stanley Walker
The Rev. John Green
The Rev. Emory Hingst
Committee Chairperson
Program
The Rev. John Green
Bethel A.M.E. Church
Public Relations
Mrs. Anita Davis
Choral Music
The Rev. Bernyce Clausell
Calvary Missionary Baptist Church (Retired)
The Rev. Kennith Barrington
Metropolitan Cathedral of Truth
Finance
The Rev. Emory Hingst
St. Stephens Lutheran Church
NuDay Graphics - Tallahassee, Florida - (904) 224-3597
Chicago Manual of Style
NuDay Graphics (Tallahassee, Fla.). Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, 1997. 1997-01-19. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/327703>, accessed 27 December 2024.
MLA
NuDay Graphics (Tallahassee, Fla.). Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, 1997. 1997-01-19. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 27 Dec. 2024.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/327703>
AP Style Photo Citation
(State Archives of Florida/NuDay Graphics (Tallahassee)