Robert George Clark Jr. (October 3, 1928 – March 4, 2025) was an American politician who served in the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for ...

from 1968 to 2004, representing the 47th district. He was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

member of the

Mississippi Legislature The Mississippi Legislature is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the Lower house, lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and ...

since 1894.

Background

Robert George Clark was born to a landowning family in Ebenezer,

Holmes County, Mississippi Holmes County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Yazoo River and the eastern border by the Big Black River. The western part of the county is within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. As of the 2020 c ...

; his great-grandfather had first bought land after the

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

and his father Robert continued to farm it.Robert G. Clark
'' Mississippi Encyclopedia'', Chris Danielson, July 10, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2024. Clark received his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

from

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a Public university, public Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ...

and a

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Administration and Educational Services from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, nearly completing his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

before entering politics. In 1960, some 800 independent black landowners held nearly half the land area of Holmes County, an unusual situation in the state, which along with most of the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

had

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

as the predominant agricultural system. Clark was twice married; his first marriage, to Essie Austin, ended with her death in 1978, and he later married Jo Ann Ross. He had two sons and a stepdaughter. He died at his home in Ebenezer on March 4, 2025, at the age of 96.Robert Clark, Mississippi's first Black lawmaker after Civil Rights era, dies at 96
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Civil rights and politics

While working as a teacher in

, Clark became involved in the civil rights movement, which had been working to register and educate voters since 1963; his activism eventually led to dismissal from his teaching position. After the passage of the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

, he agreed to be a candidate in 1967 of the Freedom Democratic Party (FDP), though he was not a member. Since the assignment of a federal registrar in the county in November 1965, the FDP registered thousands of black voters for the first time since the

disfranchisement Disfranchisement, also disenfranchisement (which has become more common since 1982) or voter disqualification, is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing someo ...

of their ancestors in 1890. Clark was elected to the

in 1967 by the black majority of the county, taking his seat on January 2, 1968. He was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

elected to the Mississippi State Legislature since the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

. Until 1976, he was the only African-American representative in the state house. He repeatedly won re-election and served until 2003. In 1977, Clark became the first black committee chairman in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was named to head the Education Committee, a position he held for ten pivotal years of change and reform in Mississippi's educational system. He was at the helm of the Education Committee when the House passed the highly acclaimed 1982 Education Reform Act, as well as the 1984 Vocational Education Reform Act. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, he ran for the

Mississippi's 2nd congressional district Mississippi's 2nd congressional district (MS-2) covers much of Western Mississippi. It includes most of Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson, the riverfront cities of Greenville, Mississippi, Greenville, Natchez, Mississippi, Natchez and Vicksburg, Mis ...

and won the Democratic nomination, but did not receive party support and lost the general election. In January 1992, he was elected as Speaker Pro Tempore. He was re-elected to that position at the start of the 1996 session and again re-elected at the start of the 2000 session. When he retired from the Mississippi House of Representatives in December 2003, he was the longest-serving member in continuous House service. He was succeeded in office by his son, Bryant Clark. In 2004, Clark became the first African American to have a Mississippi state building named after him. As a legislator, Clark was known as a statesman, able to work with all colleagues.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Robert G. Jr. 1928 births 2025 deaths African-American history of Mississippi African-American state legislators in Mississippi Jackson State University alumni Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Michigan State University alumni People from Holmes County, Mississippi 21st-century African-American physicians 21st-century American physicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature 21st-century members of the Mississippi Legislature 21st-century African-American politicians Candidates in the 1982 United States elections