The HistoryMakers

Civil rights icon and ordained minister Reverend H.K. Matthews was born Hawthorne Konrad Matthews on February 7, 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama. Matthews was raised by his grandmother, Lucy P. Johnson-Matthews. He graduated from Snow Hill Institute and attended Alabama A&M University for three years before enlisting in military service in 1949. Matthews served in the Korean War and then moved to Pensacola, Florida in 1955. There, he became involved with church activities and was mentored by one of Pensacola's leading black clergy, Reverend W.C. Dobbins. During this time, Matthews became active with civil rights activities, the NAACP and was employed by the Florida State Employment Service. He was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1961.

Matthews began his contribution to Pensacola's Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s as President of the Pensacola Council of Ministers. Matthews was jailed thirty-five times as a political prisoner, for the staging of protest demonstrations for civil rights.

Matthews also led the successful effort to get blacks hired at Sacred Heart Hospital by leading walkouts of the housekeeping and dietary staff. He led successful protests leading to the desegregation of bowling alleys and spearheaded the successful efforts to get blacks hired at the Southern Bell Telephone Company and the West Pensacola Bank.

Matthews left Pensacola in 1977 after being blackballed and unable to gain employment because of his civil rights activities. He returned to Brewton where he served as a minister for twenty-four years at Zion Foundation A.M.E. Church. In 1984, he was appointed as a Presiding Elder of the South Alabama Conference of A.M.E. Zion, with oversight of twenty-one churches.

In February 2006, the civil rights struggles of Matthews were vindicated, when the City Council of Pensacola dedicated a park in his name to recognize the social changes that he brought to Pensacola.

Matthews was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on October 16, 2006.