Alexander G. Clark (February 25, 1826 – May 31, 1891) was an

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 ensl ...

businessman and activist who served as

United States Ambassador to Liberia This is a record of ambassadors of the United States to Liberia. Liberia, as a nation, had its beginnings in 1821 when groups of free blacks from the United States emigrated from the U.S. and began establishing colonies on the coast under the d ...

in 1890-1891, where he died in office. Clark is notable for suing in 1867 to gain admission for his daughter to attend a local public school in Muscatine, Iowa. The case of '' Clark v. Board of School Directors'' achieved a constitutional ruling for integration from the Iowa state supreme court in 1868, 86 years before the United States Supreme Court decision of '' Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954). He was a prominent leader in winning a state constitutional amendment that gained the right for African Americans in Iowa to vote (1868). Active in church, freemasonry, and the Republican Party, he became known for his speaking skills and was nicknamed "the Colored Orator of the West." He earned a law degree and became co-owner and editor of '' The Conservator'' in Chicago. His body was returned from Liberia in 1892 and buried in Muscatine, where his house has been preserved.

Early life and family

Alexander G. Clark was born February 25, 1826 in Washington, PennsylvaniaMarc Rosenwasser, ''Lost In History: Alexander Clark''
2012, Iowa Public Television to parents who had been freed from

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. His parents were John ClarkSimmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. ''Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising''. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. pp. 1097-1100 and Rebecca (Darnes) Clark.Alexander G. Clark an Iowa Icon"
, African American Registry When he was around 13, Clark moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

to live with an uncle and learn the barbering trade. His uncle
William Darnes
also saw to his education in other areas. Two years later the young Clark started working on the river steamboat ''George Washington''.

Life in Muscatine

In May 1842 at age 16 Clark settled in Muscatine, Iowa (then known as Bloomington), the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

town where he made his life. He worked as a barber and became an entrepreneur, acquiring real estate and selling timber as firewood to the steamboats that frequented the Mississippi River. Barbering was a service trade that helped him meet influential whites in town as well as blacks. During the next two decades, this area along the Mississippi River was a destination for other African Americans. Located 90 miles upriver of the border of the slave state of Missouri, Muscatine attracted the largest black population in the state: 62 in 1850, with hundreds more by 1860. Some blacks settled there after fleeing the South via the river as fugitive slaves; others came from eastern free states. Quakers and other religious groups supported abolitionism. Having gotten established, Clark married Catherine Griffin of Iowa City on October 9, 1848. She had been freed from slavery in Virginia at age 3. The Clarks had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Their surviving children were Rebecca, Susan, and Alexander G. Clark, Jr. Also in 1848 Clark was among the 34 founding members of the local

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

in Muscatine, helping buy land for their first building, which was completed the next year. The AME church was the first independent black denomination in the United States, founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 19th century. Clark became acquainted with abolitionist

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

and was the Iowa agent for the Douglass newspaper The North Star. He reportedly attended a Douglass-organized convention in Rochester, New York, in 1853. They were still in touch in the late 1880s, and some of their correspondence was published in newspapers. In 1863, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

(1861-1865), Clark helped recruit the "60th Iowa Colored Troops, originally known as the 1st Iowa Infantry, African Descent." Despite being a small minority in the state, by war's end, a total of nearly 1,100 blacks from Iowa and Missouri served in the regiment. Clark enlisted at age 37 and was ranked as sergeant-major, but he could not muster due to a physical defect, perhaps in his left ankle. Clark pressed for improving civil rights for African Americans in Iowa, as well as related issues on a national level. In 1855 he had signed a petition to the state legislature with more than 30 other African Americans from Muscatine County, seeking a repeal of the law prohibiting the migration of free blacks into the state. The legislature did not change the law, but migration to the area increased after the war and emancipation of slaves. As industry developed in other areas, the center of the black population moved to other cities such as Des Moines. After the Civil War, Clark and African-American veterans pressed the Iowa legislature for the right to vote, gaining that in an 1868 constitutional amendment.Dr. Paul Finkelman, in ''Lost In History: Alexander Clark''
2012 In 1867 Clark sent his daughter Susan to a local public school in Muscatine, where she was refused admission due to her race. Muscatine had a

separate school In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadian ...

for blacks, but it was located about a mile from their house. In addition, Clark thought the quality of the instructors there was low. He sued the school board in 1868 for the right of his daughter to attend her local school. The local municipal court ruled in his favor but the school board appealed. The Iowa State Supreme Court also ruled in the Clarks' favor in April 1867, noting that under the 1857

Iowa Constitution Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

, the

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional ar ...

is required to "provide for the education of all the youths of the State, through a system of common schools. The court ruled that requiring black students to attend a separate school violated the law which "expressly gives the same rights to all the youths."Connie Street, "Black history pioneer: Alexander Clark became prominent achiever while residing in Muscatine"
''Muscatine Journal'', 24 February 2006 Due to Clark's action, Iowa was among the first states to integrate its schools. This state case was cited by the US Supreme Court in its ruling in '' Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954). Clark's son, Alexander G. Clark Jr., was the first African American to earn a law degree from the college in Iowa City, now part of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

, graduating in 1879. Clark Sr. also studied there, graduating with a law degree in 1884. They practiced together for a while.

Politics, publishing, and US ambassador to Liberia

After the Civil War, Clark became increasingly politically active in the Republican Party and in Prince Hall

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, a growing fraternal organization. In 1869, he was a delegate to the Washington, DC Colored National Convention and was among a committee that met with President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...

. He served as spokesman of the committee. That same year Clark was elected vice-president of the Iowa State Republican convention. In 1872 he was a delegate-at-large to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

which nominated Grant. Because of his abilities as a speaker, Clark became known as the "Colored Orator of the West". In 1873 President Grant offered him an appointment as consul to Aux Cayes,

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 s ...

, but he declined the position as he thought the pay was too low. Clark moved to Chicago. He had previously invested in '' The Conservator'', a newspaper founded by Ferdinand L. Barnett in Chicago in 1878. In the late 1880s he bought the newspaper, also serving as an editor. President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

appointed Clark as U.S. Minister to

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...

on August 16, 1890. This was one of the highest-ranking appointments of an African-American by a U.S. president up to that point. Harrison also appointed Clark's longtime friend

as U.S. Minister to

. Clark died of fever in office in Monrovia, Liberia on May 31, 1891. His body was returned to Muscatine for burial with honors in Greenwood Cemetery. The grave is marked by a tall memorial tombstone.

Legacy and honors

* The Alexander Clark House in Muscatine has been preserved; it is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. It was purchased and restored as a private residence by D. Kent Sissel, who has worked much of his life to preserve and present Clark's story. * In 1977 the new high-rise Clark House was dedicated; named in Clark's honor, this was Muscatine's "first high-rise to provide subsidized housing for low-income elderly residents."
''Lost In History: Alexander Clark''
is a 2012 film documentary about the activist, directed and written by Marc Rosenwasser and produced by Jacob Rosdail; produced and broadcast by Iowa Public Television. It is hosted and narrated by opera star

Simon Estes Simon Estes (born March 2, 1938) is an operatic bass-baritone of African-American descent who had a major international opera career beginning in the 1960s. He has sung at most of the world's major opera houses as well as in front of president ...

. Available on YouTube. *The Alexander G. Clark Project operates a website and Facebook page devoted to Clark. It was created by D. Kent Sissel and maintained by Daniel G. Clark (no relation). *The Alexander G. Clark Foundation seeks to preserve Clark's legacy of pioneering equal-rights causes in Iowa and nationwide. Special attention is devoted to care and future institutionalization of the Alexander Clark House. The foundation created a tax-exempt fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine. *In 2018 the City of Muscatine established Alexander Clark Day to be observed "in perpetuity" on Clark's birthday, Feb. 25. *In 2018 a Muscatine museum presented an exhibit in observance of the 150th anniversary of the 1868 Iowa Supreme Court's decision in favor of Susan Clark. *In 2019 the Alexander Clark Room was dedicated on the 6th floor of the Merrill Hotel and Conference Center on the Muscatine riverfront. Views from its windows overlook both the Mississippi River and the Clark family's historic downtown neighborhood including their home, the Clark House high-rise, the 1850 building where Susan Clark attended high school, and the 1857 building that was the Congregational Church where Clark friends and supporters were members.

References

External links

*Iowa Public Televisio
"INAUGURATION OF THE GOVERNOR 2003"
History Cooperative *[http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/filmmakers-want-to-help-bring-alexander-clark-s-story-to/article_6e5f63a0-5c0e-11e0-8246-001cc4c03286.html Mike Ferguson, "Filmmakers want to help bring Alexander Clark’s story to TV"], ''Muscatine Journal'', 31 March 2011.
''Lost In History: Alexander Clark''
27-min documentary produced by Iowa Public Television, 2012, directed and written by Marc Rosenwasser and produced by Jacob Rosdail. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Alexander 1826 births 1891 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors African-American diplomats African-American journalists African-American lawyers Burials in Iowa Iowa lawyers People from Muscatine, Iowa People from Washington, Pennsylvania Ambassadors of the United States to Liberia University of Iowa College of Law alumni 19th-century American diplomats American male journalists Businesspeople from Cincinnati 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American lawyers