- Née:
- Septima Poinsette
- Born:
- May 3, 1898, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
- Died:
- December 15, 1987, Johns Island, South Carolina (aged 89)
Septima Poinsette Clark
-
Who was Septima Poinsette Clark?
Septima Poinsette Clark (1898–1987) was an American educator and civil rights activist who fought for racial equality. Clark's experiences with racial discrimination motivated her to strengthen the African American community through education and literacy training.
Clark's early work included campaigning for the right for Black teachers to teach in Charleston public schools. She also campaigned alongside Thurgood Marshall for equal pay for Black teachers in Columbia. She refused to withdraw from the NAACP, and in 1956, she left South Carolina for a job in Tennessee.
Clark founded citizenship schools to promote literacy and political empowerment within the Black community. As the director of education and teaching at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), she helped form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers and assisted African Americans in voter registration. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter presented Clark with a Living Legacy Award.
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What type of work did Septima Poinsette Clark do?
Septima Poinsette Clark was an American educator, activist, and organizer dedicated to racial equality. Clark's work included teaching in rural areas and campaigning for Black teachers in public schools. She helped found citizenship schools in Tennessee and directed workshops at the Highlander Folk School. As the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) director of education and teaching, Clark helped form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers and assisted in increasing African American voter registration.
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Why is Septima Poinsette Clark important to the civil rights movement?
Septima Poinsette Clark was a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement due to her focus on strengthening the African American community through literacy and citizenship training. She helped found citizenship schools in Tennessee and directed workshops at the Highlander Folk School.
Clark joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1961 as Director of Education and Teaching. She also helped form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers and assisted in increasing voter registration among African Americans. Her work led to the election of the first African Americans to the U.S. Congress since Reconstruction.
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What were the citizenship schools started by Septima Poinsette Clark?
Septima Poinsette Clark helped found citizenship schools that were designed to aid literacy and foster a sense of political empowerment within the Black community. In Tennessee, she served as the director of workshops at the Highlander Folk School beginning in the late 1950s. In 1962, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined with other organizations to form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers for citizenship schools and assisted in increased voter registration among African Americans.
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How did Septima Poinsette Clark's work help African Americans gain the right to vote?
Septima Poinsette Clark was an American educator and civil rights activist. Clark helped found citizenship schools in Tennessee that fostered political empowerment and aided literacy in the Black community.
As Director of Education and Teaching for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Clark helped form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers and assisted in increasing voter registration among African Americans. Due to her efforts, the first African Americans since Reconstruction were elected to the U.S. Congress a decade later.
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What challenges did Septima Poinsette Clark face in her fight for education and civil rights?
Septima Poinsette Clark faced numerous challenges in her fight for education and civil rights. Early in her career, she experienced racial discrimination in teachers’ salaries and facilities, which motivated her to advocate for change. As an African American, she was initially forbidden to teach in Charleston public schools. Clark campaigned for a law allowing Black teachers in Charleston, and she later fought for equal pay for Black teachers in Columbia with the NAACP. In 1956, she was dismissed from her teaching position for refusing to withdraw from the NAACP, as the South Carolina legislature banned state employees from associating with civil rights organizations. Despite these obstacles, Clark persisted, contributing to the education and political empowerment of the Black community through literacy and citizenship training.
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Septima Poinsette Clark (born May 3, 1898, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.—died December 15, 1987, Johns Island, South Carolina) was an American educator and civil rights activist. Her own experience of racial discrimination fueled her pursuit of racial equality and her commitment to strengthen the African American community through literacy and citizenship training and education.
Septima Poinsette was the second of eight children. In 1916 she finished 12th grade and, unable financially to attend Fisk University as her teachers had hoped and, as an African American, forbidden to teach in the Charleston public schools at that time, Poinsette took the state examination that would permit her to teach in rural areas. Her first job was on Johns Island, South Carolina. The racial inequity of teachers’ salaries and facilities she experienced while there motivated her to become an advocate for change.
She left Johns Island in 1919 in order to teach and to campaign for a law allowing Black teachers in the Charleston public schools. The same year that the law was passed (1920), Septima Poinsette married Nerie Clark, a navy cook. The marriage ended five years later when Nerie Clark died of kidney failure. Clark returned to teaching on Johns Island until 1927, when she moved to Columbia, South Carolina. There she continued to teach and to pursue her own education, studying during summers at Columbia University in New York City and with W.E.B. Du Bois at Atlanta University(now Clark Atlanta University) in Georgia. She received a bachelor’s degree from Benedict College in Columbia in 1942 and a master’s degree from Hampton (Virginia) Institute (now Hampton University) in 1946. During this time she was also active in several social and civic organizations, among them the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), with whom she campaigned, along with attorney Thurgood Marshall, for equal pay for Black teachers in Columbia. In an effort to diminish the effectiveness of the NAACP, the South Carolina state legislature banned state employees from being associated with civil rights organizations, and in 1956 Clark left South Carolina for a job in Tennessee, refusing to withdraw from the NAACP.
In Tennessee she helped found citizenship schools that were designed to aid literacy and foster a sense of political empowerment within the Black community and served as the director of workshops at the Highlander Folk School beginning in the late 1950s. Clark joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1961 as director of education and teaching. In 1962 the SCLC joined with other organizations to form the Voter Education Project, which trained teachers for citizenship schools and assisted in increased voter registration among African Americans. A decade later, due in no small measure to the persistent efforts of Clark and others, the first African Americans since Reconstruction were elected to the U.S. Congress.
After Clark retired from active SCLC work in 1970, she fought for and won reinstatement of the teaching pension and back pay that had been canceled when she was dismissed in 1956. She later served two terms on the Charleston County School Board. In 1979 Clark received a Living Legacy Award from U.S. President Jimmy Carter.