Charles Steele Jr. (born August 3, 1946) is an American businessman, politician and civil rights leader. He was the first African American elected to the City Council of Tuscaloosa and one of the first African Americans elected to the Alabama State Senate. From 2004 to 2009, he was the National President and CEO of the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., ...

, co-founded by

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Steele is the founder and President of Charles Steele and Associates, located in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Education

Steele was born in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. He graduated high school from Druid City High School in

and attended college at Mississippi Valley State University and

Oakland University Oakland University (OU or Oakland) is a public university, public research university in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson and husband ...

. He received his bachelor's degree from American International University at the Paramaribo, Suriname, South America campus. He earned a doctoral degree from Mt. Carmel Theological Seminary. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree from Stillman College in

, an honorary Doctorate of Christian Education from The F.T. Bozeman School of Ministry and Global Evangelical Christian College of Louisiana.

Political career

In 1985 he was elected to the Tuscaloosa City Council, where he served two terms. During his tenure as city councilman, he organized the Unity Day Scholarship Fund, the Tuscaloosa Police Athletic League, and secured funds for the purchase of Palmore Park and Barrs’ Quarters (Charles Steele Estates). This was the first homeownership program in West Alabama. He obtained the funds to build the Bernice Washington Insight Center, a drug treatment center. He organized the Tuscaloosa Drug Task Force and after many years of relenting efforts, the Partners For a Drug Free Tuscaloosa County (formerly Tuscaloosa Drug Task Force). During that time the partnership was awarded $1 million. In 1994, he was elected to the Alabama State Senate and re-elected three times before resigning to become president of the SCLC in August 2004. In April 2006, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College. On April 20, 2006, he was inducted into the Tuscaloosa Civic Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Southern Christian Leadership Conference
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Charles Jr. African-American state legislators in Alabama Activists for African-American civil rights Alabama city council members American chief executives 1946 births Living people Mississippi Valley State University alumni Oakland University alumni Politicians from Tuscaloosa, Alabama Alabama state senators 20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature African-American activists 21st-century members of the Alabama Legislature