Septima Poinsette Clark (May 3, 1898 – December 15, 1987) was an African
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
and
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s in the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
.
Septima Clark's work was commonly under-appreciated by Southern male activists.
She became known as the "Queen mother" or "Grandmother" of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
commonly referred to Clark as "The Mother of the Movement".
Clark's argument for her position in the Civil Rights Movement was one that claimed "knowledge could empower marginalized groups in ways that formal legal equality couldn't."
Early life
Clark was born in
Charleston,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, in 1898. Her life in Charleston was greatly affected by the era of Reconstruction, as well as power relations during the time.
Charleston was strictly segregated and harshly divided by class.
Her father, Peter Poinsette, was enslaved at birth on the
Joel Poinsett
Joel Roberts Poinsett (March 2, 1779December 12, 1851) was an American physician, diplomat and botanist. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the ...
farm between the Waccamaw River and Georgetown. Joel Roberts Poinsett was a distinguished US politician of his time and the namesake of the Poinsettia plant.
Peter was a house servant to Joel and his main task was taking the children to and from school each day. After slavery, Peter found a job working on a ship in the Charleston harbor. During one of his travels, he went to Haiti and it was then that Peter met Victoria, Clark's mother. The couple got married in Jacksonville, Florida and then moved back to Charleston.
Her mother, Victoria Warren Anderson Poinsette, was born in Charleston but raised in
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
by her brother, who took her and her two sisters there in 1864. Victoria Poinsette had never been enslaved, and vowed to never be anyone's servant.
She returned to Charleston after the Civil War and worked as a launderer. She raised her children very strictly, only permitting them to play with other children on one day of the week. She was also determined to make her daughters into ladies, so she told them never to go out without gloves on, never yell, never eat on the street, etc.
Victoria Warren Anderson Poinsette lived in a constant struggle of wanting to improve her social class; she wanted to live in a middle-class society but on a working-class budget. Victoria made it plain to Peter that he was not providing enough for her and their family.
Victoria raised her children separated, with the boys having more lenient rules than the girls. The boys could have friends over and play many days of the week, but the girls had to do chores and lessons, every day other than Friday. Clark rebelled against her mother's strictness through never becoming the lady she wished her to be and marrying a man Victoria called a "stranger".
Clark remembers only ever being punished by her father when she did not want to attend school; however, Clark's father was not able to write his own name until the later years of his life.
Clark's first educational experience was in 1904 at age six, when she started attending Mary Street School. All Clark did at this school was sit on a set of bleachers with a hundred other six-year-olds, learning nothing. Clark's mother quickly removed her from the school. An elderly woman across the street from their house was teaching girls, so Clark learned to read and write there. Due to Clark's poor financial status, she watched the woman's children every morning and afternoon in return for her tuition. At this time there was not a high school in Charleston for blacks, however, in 1914 a school opened for blacks in 6th, 7th, 8th grade. After sixth grade, she took a test and went on to ninth grade at the
Avery Institute
The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture is a division of the College of Charleston library system. The center is located on the site of the former Avery Normal Institute in the Harleston village district at 125 Bull Stre ...
. All of the teachers were white women. In 1914, black teachers were hired and this brought much controversy to the city, which Clark later took part in through the NAACP.
Clark graduated from
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in 1916. Due to financial constraints, she was not able to attend college initially, so she took a state examination at the age of eighteen to allow her to teach. As an African American, she was barred from teaching in the Charleston, South Carolina public schools, but was able to find a position teaching in a rural school district, on
John's Island, the largest of the
Sea Islands
The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Southeastern United States. Numbering over 100, they are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, ...
. She taught on the islands from 1916 to 1919 at Promise Land School and then returned to Avery from 1919 to 1920.
She was able to return to school part-time in Columbia, South Carolina to complete her B.A. at Benedict in 1942 and then she received her M.A. from Hampton.
During this time, she taught children during the day and illiterate adults on her own time at night. During this period she developed innovative methods to rapidly teach adults to read and write, based on everyday materials like the Sears catalog.
Clark recalls the gross discrepancies that existed between her school and the white school across the street. Clark's school had 132 students and only one other teacher. As the teaching principal, Clark made $35 per week, while the other teacher made $25. Meanwhile, the white school across the street had only three students, and the teacher who worked there received $85 per week. It was her first-hand experience with these inequalities that led Clark to become an active proponent for pay equalization for teachers. In 1919 her pay equalization work brought her into the movement for civil rights. In an interview with
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...
for the book ''
Who Speaks for the Negro?
''Who Speaks for the Negro?'' is a 1965 book of interviews by Robert Penn Warren conducted with Civil Rights Movement activists. The book was reissued by Yale University Press in 2014. The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbi ...
'', Clark explains how these experiences with her education, as well as her early experiences with growing up in a racist Charleston and teaching in the slums, prompted her to want to work towards civil rights.
NAACP involvement
Clark first heard of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) while she was teaching on John's Island from 1916 to 1919. There was no NAACP chapter on John's Island, but a meeting was held in which various preachers came and spoke about what the NAACP was and what exactly it was trying to do. The superintendent was in attendance to collect dues and it was then that she decided to join the organization.
In 1919, Clark returned to Charleston to teach sixth grade at Avery Normal Institute, a private academy for black children. In Charleston, she joined the Charleston Branch of the NAACP and began attending meetings regularly.
Under the guidance of
Edmund Austin, the President of the local NAACP in Charleston, Clark took part in her first political action with the NAACP in Charleston.
Despite the orders of her principal, Clark led her students around the city, going door-to-door, asking for signatures on a petition to allow black principals at Avery. She got 10,000 signatures in a day, and in 1920 black teachers were permitted.
In 1920, Clark enjoyed the first of many legal victories when blacks were given the right to become principals in Charleston's public schools, under the education board of aldermen of Charleston. Her participation in the NAACP was Clark's first statement in political action.
In 1945, Clark worked with
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
on a case that was about equal pay for white and black teachers led by NAACP in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
.
The late-1940s proved to be a difficult time for Clark as she stood up for the NAACP's aim of equalization to integration against many other members and activists.
Marriage and children
While teaching at Avery from 1919 to 1920, Clark met Nerie David Clark. He worked as a warden cook on a submarine in the navy during World War I. In late 1920, she went to teach in McClellanville until 1922. She and Nerie wrote letters back and forth and dated for approximately three years and got married in 1923. They got married in McClellanville and then shortly moved to Hickory, North Carolina, Nerie's hometown. Clark's mother was disgraced by her marriage. Victoria believed that to marry any man outside of the state is to marry a stranger. She refused to have her in-laws for dinner or for any occasion. The marriage severed Victoria and Septima's relationship.
While living in Hickory with Nerie's family, Clark became aware of the many cultural and ideal differences they had. They grew up in different worlds; a mountain man and a low-country girl. In Hickory, Clark attended the church Nerie's family did, which was an African Methodist church. She found this church to be much more of a community than her church in Charleston, the United Methodist Church. Throughout Clark's religious journey in life, she found there are many ways to serve God, rather than only one correct way. Clark got homesick, so they moved back to Charleston, where she taught at Promise Land again from 1926 to 1929.
In Charleston, they had their first child, which died. Clark viewed the death of her baby as a punishment to her because she married a man not from South Carolina. Her mother was not sympathetic and refused to help her; however, her father was friendlier towards her. To get over her lost baby, she took a job with a white woman for a summer. They stayed in the mountains for the summer and the woman was helpless, which gave Clark optimism and hope. She then moved to Columbia and began teaching in 1929. It was in Columbia she got much more involved in civic activities.
She settled in Columbia, South Carolina in 1929, and accepted a teaching position that year. In total, Septima Clark spent a total of 17 years in Columbia, South Carolina. Much of her work there is documented by the University of South Carolina History Department which, under the direction of B. J. Donaldson, has conducted extensive research on African-American education, with special emphasis on the history of the Booker T. Washington High School.
In 1929, Septima Clark was employed at Booker T. Washington where she is still remembered as an outstanding educator. She worked closely with the principals of Booker T. Washington High School, both C. A. Johnson who recruited her for the teaching position she would hold for 17 years and later with J. Andrew Simmons, who was originally from Charleston and whom she may have known previous to their working together in Columbia.
While in Columbia, Septima Clark completed the foundations upon which her career, reputation, and memory would rest: she became a highly valued faculty member at Booker T. Washington High School, she completed her bachelor's degree at Columbia's Benedict College, and she completed her graduate studies at New York's Columbia University and Atlanta's Clark College. The level and quality of the education that Septima Clark achieved was typical of what was required by the administrators of the Booker T. Washington High School of Columbia who recruited highly trained teachers from all over the country.
After J. Andrew Simmons left Booker T. Washington High School to take a position in New York in 1945, Septima Clark stayed on for two additional years, before finally leaving Booker T. Washington High School, an institution she had helped to mold, in order to return to Charleston, SC, to take care of her ailing mother, Victoria. During this time, Clark had trouble providing for Nerie, Jr. In 1935, she decided to send him back to Hickory to live with his paternal grandparents.
Clark's decision to send Nerie, Jr. to live with his paternal grandparents was a common action at this time due to the Great Depression and its resulting financial issues.
Septima Poinsette Clark's marriage to Nerie David Clark resulted in a course of depression for Clark, as well as a significant decline in her self-confidence.
Columbia University and NAACP leadership
During summers, Clark began studies at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York, and at
Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Fou ...
in Georgia with the landmark figure in the racial equality movement,
W. E. B. Du Bois. Between 1942 and 1945, she received a bachelor's degree from
Benedict College
Benedict College is a private historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded to offer majors in many disciplines across the liberal arts ...
, Columbia, SC and a master's degree from Hampton (Virginia) Institute (now
Hampton University
Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...
). While earning her B.A., she was taking classes in the morning, teaching from noon to five in the afternoons, and taking more classes in the evenings. She was earning $62.50 per month in college and every summer she traveled to Maine to earn more money. The NAACP in Columbia, SC, had approximately 800 members and all were black. The biggest NAACP impact during Clark's time in Columbia was they sponsored a suit that won the equalization of teacher salaries. It was a huge win for the NAACP.
In 1947, Clark returned to Charleston to take care of her mother who had had a stroke. While caring for her mother, Clark's role as an educator and activist did not subside. During this time, she taught in the Charleston public schools, she was active with the
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
, and served as membership chairperson of the Charleston NAACP. The YWCA was one of the few organizations in Charleston that was interracial. There were black and white branches. In 1956, Clark obtained the position of vice president of the Charleston NAACP branch.
That same year, the South Carolina legislature passed a law banning city or state employees from being involved with civil rights organizations. Clark believed that a combination of relations, such as social and power relations, were a major contributor to schooling.
Clark was upfront in her refusal to leave the NAACP, and was thus fired from her job by the Charleston City School Board, losing her pension after 40 years employment.
She soon found that no school in Charleston would hire her. A black teachers' sorority held a fundraiser for her benefit, but no member would have their picture taken with her, fearing that they would lose their own jobs.
Highlander Folk School literacy courses
Around this time, Clark was active with the
Highlander Folk School
The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...
in Monteagle,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. She first attended a workshop there in 1954.
Myles Horton
]
Myles Falls Horton (July 9, 1905– January 19, 1990) was an American educator, socialist, and co-founder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement (Movement leader James Bevel called Horton "The Father o ...
, the founder of Highlander, quickly hired her as the full-time director of workshops.
Before long she was teaching literacy courses, drawing on her experience on John's Island. "In a compressed week's workshop, Clark promised to turn sharecroppers and other unschooled Negros into potential voters".
Highlander was one of the few interracial schools in the South at the time and Clark prospered as a teacher there. After being fired and unwelcomed in her hometown, Clark found Highlander to be a great community.
In 1959, while she was teaching at Highlander she was arrested for allegedly "possessing whiskey"; however, these charges were later dropped and seen as false.
Clark and her cousin,
Bernice Robinson, expanded and spread the program. They taught students how to fill out driver's license exams, voter registration forms, Sears mail-order forms, and how to sign checks. In 1965, Clark estimated that these "citizenship schools" had reached more than 25,000 students and led to around twice that number of registered voters. Additionally, many of the students became teachers themselves. Clark also served as Highlander's director of workshops, recruiting teachers and students.
One of the participants in her workshops was
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...
. A few months after participating in the workshops Parks helped to start the
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...
. Many other women who took part in the Montgomery bus boycott also attended Highlander and participated in Clark's workshops. Upon seeing the success of Clark,
Ella Baker
Ella Josephine Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and t ...
traveled to Highlander as a representative of SCLC and observed to see if Clark's program could be incorporated into SCLC's
Crusade for Citizenship Crusade for Citizenship was the 1958 voter project organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The goal of the project was to double the number of African-American voters in the southern United States for the 1958 and 1960 ele ...
.
The spread of Citizenship Schools
Clark is most famous for establishing "Citizenship Schools" teaching reading to adults throughout the Deep South, in hopes of carrying on a tradition.
The creation of citizenship schools developed from Septima Clark's teaching of adult literacy courses throughout the interwar years.
While the project served to increase literacy, it also served as a means to empower Black communities. Her teaching approach was very specific in making sure her students felt invested in what they were learning. She connected the politics of the movement to the personal experiences and needs of the people. In this way, Clark's strategy aligned with
Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy.
She was not only teaching literacy, but also citizenship rights. Clark's goals for the schools were to provide self-pride, cultural-pride, literacy, and a sense of one's citizenship rights. She was recruiting the rural communities to get involved with the movement.
Citizenship schools were frequently taught in the back room of a shop so as to elude the violence of racist whites.
The teachers of citizenship schools were often people who had learned to read as adults as well, as one of the primary goals of the citizenship schools was to develop more local leaders for people's movements. Teaching people how to read helped countless Black Southerners push for the right to vote, but beyond that, it also developed leaders across the country who would help push the civil rights movement long after 1964. The citizenship schools are just one example of the empowerment strategy for developing leaders that was core to the civil rights movement in the South
[ Payne, Charles. '' I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle.'' University of California, 1997.] The citizenship schools are also seen as a form of support to
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
in the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement.
The project was a response to legislation in Southern states which required literacy and interpreting various portions of the
US Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
in order to be allowed to register to vote. These laws were used to disenfranchise black citizens. Citizenship Schools were based on the adult literacy programs Clark and Robinson had developed at Highlander. They required a week's worth of training in a program that was ultimately designed by Clark.
Septima Clark hired her cousin
Bernice Robinson, to be the first teacher. Bernice was also a Highlander alumna. In addition to literacy, Citizenship Schools also taught students to act collectively and protest against racism.
The leadership schools ultimately spread to a number of Southern states, growing so large that, upon the recommendation of
Myles Horton
]
Myles Falls Horton (July 9, 1905– January 19, 1990) was an American educator, socialist, and co-founder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement (Movement leader James Bevel called Horton "The Father o ...
and Clark, the program was transferred to the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...
(SCLC), in 1961 though initially Martin Luther King Jr. was hesitant about the idea.
Transferring the program to the SCLC was also a result of financial troubles at Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.
With the increased budget of the SCLC, the citizenship school project trained over 10,000 citizenship school teachers who led citizenship schools throughout the South, representing a popular education effort on a massive scale
On top of these 10,000 teachers, citizenship schools reached out and taught more than 25,000 people.
By 1958, 37 adults were able to pass the voter registration test as a result of the first session of community schools.
Before 1969, about 700,000 African Americans became registered voters thanks to Clark's dedication to the movement.
Clark came to national prominence, becoming the SCLC's director of education and teaching.
Clark was the first woman to gain a position on the SCLC board.
Andrew Young
Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christian L ...
, who had joined Highlander the previous year to work with the Citizenship Schools, also joined the SCLC staff. The SCLC staff of citizenship schools were mainly women, as a result of the daily experience gained by becoming a teacher.
Clark would struggle against sexism during her time on the SCLC, as had
Ella Baker
Ella Josephine Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and t ...
, with the bulk of sexism emanating from
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
Ralph Abernathy
Ralph David Abernathy Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and ...
also objected to her, as Clark said: Clark claimed that women being treated unequally was "one of the greatest weaknesses of the civil rights movement."
Other civic service
During her career in service organizations, she also worked with the Tuberculosis Association and the Charleston Health Department. She was also an active member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
sorority. Clark retired from active work with the SCLC in 1970. She later sought reinstatement of the pension and back salary that had been canceled when she was dismissed as a teacher in 1956, which she won. She was later to serve two terms on the Charleston County School Board.
Death and legacy
In 1978, Clark was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters by the
College of Charleston
The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...
.
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
awarded Clark a Living Legacy Award in 1979. In 1987, her second autobiography, ''Ready from Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement'' (Wild Trees Press, 1986) won the American Book Award.
Septima P. Clark died December 15, 1987. In a eulogy presented at the funeral, the president of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...
(SCLC) described the importance of Clark's work and her relationship to the SCLC.
Reverend Joseph Lowery asserted that "her courageous and pioneering efforts in the area of citizenship education and interracial cooperation" won her SCLC's highest award, the Drum Major for Justice Award. She is buried at
Old Bethel United Methodist Church
Old Bethel United Methodist Church is located at 222 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina. It is the oldest Methodist church still standing in the city.
Originally built about 1797/1798 for the Bethel Methodist congregation, after 1854 this ...
Cemetery in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
.
Clark had major relations to other black activists of the Civil Rights Movement, such as
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
and
W. E. B. DuBois. Washington and Clark both emphasized the importance of self-improvement before the importance of institutional reforms. DuBois and Clark agreed on the emphasis of education as the most important approach to the civil rights movement.
Septima Clark Public Charter School in Washington, DC, is named in her honor.
Septima P. Clark Parkway (also known as the Septima P. Clark Expressway) and Septima P. Clark Memorial Park in Charleston, SC, are named in her honor.
Minor planet
6238 Septimaclark, discovered by
Eleanor Helin
Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin (née Francis, 19 November 1932 – 25 January 2009) was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Some sources gi ...
is named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the
Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Function
...
on 8 November 2019 ().
Quotes
:I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.
[Clark, Septima Poinsette. ''Ready from Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement'', Wild Trees Press (1986).]
:Don't ever think that everything went right. It didn't.
:This country was built up from women keeping their mouths shut.
:I never felt that getting angry would do you any good other than hurt your own digestion- keep you from eating, which I liked to do.
Autobiographies
Septima Clark wrote two autobiographies during her lifetime, in which she recorded her lifelong experiences. The first, written in 1962, was named ''Echo In My Soul''. It is a combination of her life story, as well as her work at the Highlander Folk School. The work also discussed her views concerning the Jim Crow laws and the legitimacy of the Civil Rights Movement.
Clark's second autobiography, ''Ready from Within'' (1979), was an oral recollection of lifelong experiences.
Footnotes
References
* Charron, Katherine. ''Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark'' (2009)
* McFadden, Grace Jordan. "Septima P. Clark and the Struggle for Human Rights." In ''Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers 1941-1965.'' Ed. Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), pp. 85–97,
* Horton, Myles. ''The Long Haul: An Autobiography.'' NY: Teachers College Press (1998),
* Septima Poinsette Clark and Cynthia Stokes Brown, ''Ready from Within: A First Person Narrative'', (Red Sea Press, 1990)
Interview with Septima Poinsette Clarkby Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, 30 July 1976. G-0017, in the
Southern Oral History Program
The Southern Oral History Program (SOHP), located in the Love House and Hutchins Forum in the historic district of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is a research institution dedicated to collecting and preserving oral histories from across the south ...
Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
.
*Robnett, Belinda. ''How Long? How Long?'' (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997).
*Thomas, Rhondda R. & Ashton, Susanna, eds. "Septima Poinsette Clark (1898–1987)," I
''The South Carolina Roots of African American Thought'' (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2014), pp. 237–246.
Further reading
*
External links
SNCC Digital Gateway: Septima Clark Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out
The Septima Poinsette Clark FoundationBiographyon South Carolina African American History Online
* Botsch, Carol Sears
University of South Carolina. August 3, 2000.
* Oral History Interviews with Septima Poinsette Clar
fro
Oral Histories of the American South Civil Rights Movement ArchiveSeptima P. Clark Papersat
Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture
Photographs of Septima Poinsette Clark from the UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Septima Poinsette
Activists for African-American civil rights
1898 births
1987 deaths
Hampton University alumni
20th-century American educators
African-American Methodists
Nonviolence advocates
People from Charleston, South Carolina
American Book Award winners
People from Johns Island, South Carolina
20th-century Methodists
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American educators