Community Health Northwest Florida CEO Chandra Smiley with the Rev. H.K. Matthews.
The Civil Rights Movement — a pivotal era in American history from 1954 to 1968 — saw numerous leaders emerge to fight for racial equality and end segregation and discrimination. The Rev. Hawthorne Konrad “H.K.” Matthews was among them.
Pensacola lost its iconic civil rights legend this week when the Rev. Matthews died August 18, 2025, at age 97.
During his long and embattled life, the Rev. Matthews embodied remarkable fortitude and strength in the segregated South, leading protests and boycotts to fight against racism and discrimination in Northwest Florida. A courageous leader and fearless freedom fighter, the Rev. Matthews stood tall and strong in the face of injustice and inequality.
As Community Health Northwest Florida pays homage to Rev. Matthews, we remember how other seemingly ordinary people in local communities took extraordinary chances to make a difference in the lives of others.
In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement in 1965, two courageous freedom-fighting pioneers — much like Rev. Matthews — secured funding from President Johnson’s War on Poverty to support two pilot programs, creating what is known today as “community health centers.” One in Boston, Mass., and another in Mound Bayou, Miss., these health centers birthed the 1,400 health centers that exist today — including Community Health Northwest Florida.
Today we pause to pay tribute in commemoration and celebration of our heroic civil rights giant, Rev. H.K. Matthews. He fought the good fight. He finished the course, and for that we are forever grateful and fortunate for his legacy.