The pastor who refused to accept the status quo

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Raleigh Noble Gooden came to Tallahassee in 1961 to take over as pastor at St Mary’s Primitive Baptist Church. The city that greeted him was at a crossroads.

Bus boycotts and lunch counter sit-ins were disrupting the status quo as the next generation demanded an end to Jim Crow-era segregation.

Reverend Gooden quickly became a major proponent of this change. He is the focus of this week’s Tally Back Then.

Delaitre Hollinger is the co-executive director of the Florida Civil Rights Museum and an admirer of Gooden’s impact in Tallahassee and beyond.

“He became not only a local leader of the movement, but a state leader,” Hollinger said.

“Eventually he would become the state field director of the NAACP and in that position he was very determined to see blacks occupy high-ranking positions in state government.”

Hollinger said Gooden also demanded changes in local schools, helping to secure the first black principals in majority white Tallahassee schools.

“There was always a voice crying out in the community about racism and injustice,” Hollinger said. “That voice belonged to RN Gooden.”

A photo Hollinger shared shows a 1971 Gadsden County march.

Hollinger said it’s one of his favorites.

Gooden is joined by legendary civil rights leader CK Steele and other activists protesting keeping voter registration books in private stores.

“They asked the governor, Reubin Askew, to remove these voter registration books from private stores to a public facility, the courthouse,” Hollinger said.

“As a result of his efforts, Governor Askew granted his request. I am in awe of the amount of courage in this picture.”

Tally then:

Hollinger said Gooden was a great example of the courage so many community leaders displayed throughout this era.

“I think of the death threats, of the crosses that were burned on their lawns. But they were determined, even in the face of so much adversity, even under the threat of death, to continue to fight and stand up for what is right and secure civil rights for their people.”

This photo was captured by John Buckley, an FSU student with a habit of being in the right place at the right time to capture some of the city’s most seismic moments of the late 1960s and 1970s.

In May, WCTV examined Buckley’s untold story and its impact on how the civil rights movement is remembered locally.

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