Associate Dean, Professor of Marketing/Director, Graduate Programs, Florida A&M University School of Business and Industry
1982 – 2013

Dr. Charles Leonard “Chuck” Evans, Sr., veteran civil rights leader, distinguished educator, humanitarian, philanthropist, administrator, community activist. Dr. Evans grew up in segregated Durham, North Carolina, the fifth of seven children born to Rev. Walter Samuel Evans and Pauline Parker Evans on July 23, 1945. While in high school, he joined the local NAACP campaigns for jobs, voting rights and desegregation. He worked with his cousin, Walter Riley, to organize a bus trip including high school students to the now famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963. The previous year, he led a successful picket protest of students of the segregated Royal Ice Cream Parlor on Roxboro Street, eventually shutting down the business.

In 1963, Dr. Evans graduated as Valedictorian from Merrick–Moore High School and matriculated to North Carolina A&T State University. He graduated in 1967, majoring in Engineering Mathematics. As a student, he became an activist, participating in marches, sit-ins, and voting rights campaigns. His dream was to become an Air Force pilot; but he was denied commission when an Air Force Officer claimed he had a curvature of the spine and booted him out of the ROTC program. Undeterred, Dr. Evans applied to the Navy’s Officer Training Pilot Program and was accepted. After graduation, he enrolled in the Navy’s Officer’s Program in Pensacola, Florida, received commission in the Navy and started pilot training in Pensacola and Milton, Florida. After a training accident, Dr. Evans gave up flying and became a computer-programming officer aboard a command ship in Norfolk, Virginia.

Upon completing his military obligations, Dr. Evans worked for General Electric Co. as a systems analyst in Syracuse, New York and enrolled in graduate studies at Syracuse University. He obtained his MBA in Management Information Systems and a Ph.D. in Marketing. Dr. Evans returned to his alma mater, NC A&T State University to teach in the business school. He joined the faculty of the School of Business and Industry (SBI) at Florida A&M University in 1982, becoming a full professor and serving as Associate Dean of SBI over a thirty-two-year span, teaching his last class in August 2013. Having moved with his wife and children to the Myers Park Historic District (Woodland Drives), the Evans’ became one of the first African-American families to settle in the neighborhood. He also served as a consultant with many of the major Fortune 500 companies such as Colgate, Pepsi Cola, American Express, Anheuser Busch, General Motors, Corning, Seagram, Tropicana, Champion, US West and others. Additionally, he worked closely with many of the small businesses in Tallahassee concerning their marketing, computer and strategic planning needs.

Along with his academic endeavors, Dr. Evans served as President of the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP for 14 years –– second only to the Rev. C.K. Steele as the organization’s longest serving President. He was also the first and only person to have been bestowed with the coveted title of President Emeritus. He was not only a visionary of the association but also a keeper of the flame. During his tenure as President, Dr. Evans worked tirelessly to move the Tallahassee Branch NAACP into its first permanent home at 719 West Brevard Street, which was named in his honor in April 2013. He negotiated the donation of the Historic Modern Cleaners Building from the Frenchtown Community Development Corporation, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds to relocate the structure from Macomb Street to its present location. The Dr. Charles L. Evans Building was the largest cement structure ever to be moved in the state of Florida. Dr. Evans was also a firm supporter of youth, devoting countless hours to the Tallahassee NAACP Youth Council and ACT-SO program. As an educator, he also strived to leave lasting impressions on the collegiate NAACP chapters, founding the TCC and FSU chapters, and reestablishing the FAMU Chapter.

Noteworthy was Dr. Evans’ push to ensure adequate representation of minorities in high-ranking government posts. Prior to his election to the presidency of the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP in 1990, he served the branch as its First Vice President, Third Vice President, Chairman of the Education Committee, Chairman of the Freedom Fund Committee, Chairman of the Building Fund Committee and Chairman of the Education Committee for the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches. He successfully initiated the single-member district lawsuit to change election procedures for the Leon County School Board. Up until this time, school board members were elected at-large, which effectively eliminated the possibility of an African-American being elected to the board until 1990. Also, during this time, Evans along with Dr. Charles U. Smith sued the Capital City Country Club in an effort to void the $1-per-year for 99 years leasing agreement between the private club and the city; first enacted in 1956 in an effort to keep the city-owned golf course from being integrated.

Dr. Evans worked with Tallahassee firefighters in the 1980s to racially diversify the department’s leadership. The result saw the first African-American and first female employees be promoted to Lieutenant and Assistant Chief ranks respectively. Dr. Evans forcefully fought for the hiring of Tallahassee’s first African-American City Manager; the city’s most powerful position under the Commission-Manager form of government. Anita Favors was hired in the post in 1997. Due to his persistence and advocacy, the city also hired its first African-American police chief in the same year. He founded the Charles Kenzie Steele Scholarship Foundation; sued the Leon County School District in federal court for inequities in hiring, salaries, teacher assignments and administrative promotions; and worked assiduously to ensure that fairness, equality and justice was prevalently prominent in public facilities, schools, banking institutions, detention centers, jails, institutions of higher education and public parades.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DR. EVANS’ LEADERSHIP AS PRESIDENT OF THE TALLAHASSEE BRANCH NAACP

• As a Board Member of the Harry T. Moore Education Fund, Dr. Evans wrote the strategic plan and bylaws of operation for the state scholarship fund.
• As a Board Member of the Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science, Dr. Evans single-handedly obtained funds for the repainting of the Historic Bethel Baptist Church, the oldest Black church in Tallahassee.
• In 1995, as a result of inequities he saw in southside schools, Dr. Evans endorsed the half-penny sales tax as a means to encourage other minorities to support the ballot referendum; effectively ensuring equitability in needed changes to educational facilities in impoverished areas of Tallahassee.
• Dr. Evans developed the State NAACP Strategic Plan using representatives from each branch and conducted statewide training. His plan was adopted and used by the National NAACP to develop their strategic plan.
• Dr. Evans authored the NAACP State Education Plan and conducted statewide training for the branches, the Commissioner of Education and legislators.
• Successfully protested with Seminole Indians against Springtime Tallahassee’s use of Andrew Jackson as dominant figurehead who represented All Citizens.
• Appointed to State Education Accountability Commission by Governor Lawton Chiles.
• Spearheaded with Parks & Crump, Attorneys at Law in the Martin Lee Anderson Case, a protest march at the State Capitol and in Panama City bringing national focus to Florida’s youth boot camps.
• The Tallahassee Branch NAACP holds the State record for most Life Memberships.
• The Tallahassee Branch was recognized for the “Most Outstanding Branch Programs” awarded in Florida.
• The Tallahassee Branch was awarded the “Most Outstanding Branch President” in Florida.
• Founder of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Breakfast held at Bethel AME Church – Issues highlighted were discrepancies between lending and redlining of Black Tallahassee Citizens.
• Actively organized Get Out To Vote (GOTV) Campaigns in the community through the Tallahassee Branch NAACP and Youth Council, NAACP Chapters at TCC, FAMU & FSU and Supervisor of Elections. The Branch was awarded national acclaim for this project.
• Organized 1st NAACP State Conference where all activities were held at a church, Bethel AME Church in Tallahassee. In the past, other conferences were held in hotels. This partnership was a tremendous savings to the State Conference.

At an early age, Charles accepted Christ as his personal Savior and became an active member of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Bahama, NC. He and his family joined Bethel AME Church when they moved to Tallahassee in 1982. Dr. Evans served as Chair of the Bethel Community Development Corporation as a Steward Emeritus and Co-Chair of the Couple’s Ministry. Dr. Evans was also very active in the community. He served as a board member and Chair of the FAMU Federal Credit Union and was responsible for raising the funds to construct a new edifice on South Monroe Street. He was a member of the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, Life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science, Southern Scholarship Fund, Harry T. Moore Fund, Tallahassee Community Relations Council, Education Accountability and Reform for the State of Florida, Judicial Council for the State of Florida, Physical Therapy Board for the State of Florida and Leon County Superintendent’s Evaluation Committee.

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS RECEIVED BY DR. CHARLES EVANS

• Inducted, NAACP Civil Rights Hall of Fame (Posthumously) – 2018
• The Richard Allen Educational Leadership Award, Bethel A.M.E Church – 2012
• Honoree, TCC Cherry Hall Alexander African-American History Calendar – 2011
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, Florida A&M University – 2009
• President’s Award, Florida State Conference NAACP Branches – 2008
• Richard Allen Community Development Award, Bethel A.M.E. Church – 2007
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Salute, MLK Foundation of Florida – 2006
• T.H. Poole, Sr. President’s Award, Florida State Conference NAACP Branches – 2004
• Advocacy Award, 100 Black Men of America, Inc. – 1999
• Distinguished Service Award, Bethel A.M.E. Church – 1999
• Humanitarian Award, Steele–Brooks Institute – 1998
• NAACP Centennial Freedom Fighters Award – 1998
• Medgar W. Evers Award, Florida State Conference NAACP Branches – 1997
• Distinguished Service Award – Frontiers International, Inc. – 1997
• Man of the Year, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity – 1994
• NAACP Black Achiever Award – 1993
• Public Service Award, NFBPA Tallahassee Area Chapter – 1993
• Citizen of the Year, Chi Omega Chapter – Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. – 1993
• Distinguished Service Citation – Frontiers Tallahassee – 1992
• Tallahassee NAACP Branch Award – 1989
• Management Sciences Award, Florida A&M University – 1985
• Blacks in Management Award of Merit – 1981

On October 31, 1966, he wed the former Constantine “Connie” Hicks of Durham, NC. Their children are Charles L. Evans, Jr. (Julie), Carita Evans, Constance “Connie” Evans (Billy Singletary) and Cara Evans-Patterson (Dr. Bryan Patterson). They have seventeen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. After leading an eminent and distinguished life in selfless service to others, Charles Leonard Evans, Sr. passed on August 21, 2013.