By Dawn Felder-Boren
“I just tried to create a little chaos. Chaos is a good thing. God created the whole world out of it. Change is what comes of it.”
~ Septima Poinsette Clark
If you’ve lived in the LowCountry of South Carolina, the southeast region of the U.S. or researched women of the civil rights movement, then the name Septima Poinsette Clark is not unfamiliar to you. I’ve traveled the Septima P. Clark Parkway all of my life but I didn’t realize how important that stretch of highway was until I really dug into the contributions of Mrs. Clark. Now I find myself reflecting on the life of this powerful woman every time my tires touch any road. She was the daughter of formal enslaved Africans, an educator, activist and leader. It is such an honor to provide a look into the life of Mrs. Septima Poinsette Clark.
Clark was born on May 3, 1898 in Charleston, SC. She came from humble beginnings as most African Americans during that time. Her mother was from a freed black family but her father was born into slavery on the Joel Roberts Poinsette plantation. Her mother and father encouraged her to excel in education and she surpassed expectations. After graduating secondary school, Clark earned her teaching certificate from the historic Avery Normal Institute. Segregation did not occur until the mid-1900’s, therefore, she was banned form teaching in the City of Charleston public school system. This prompted her to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in order to bring awareness to unfair treatment and the need for African American educators. She eventually gained employment by the school district but it was short lived. People encouraged her to hide her association with the NAACP but she refused and was subsequently fired 3yrs into her employment once the NAACP membership was discovered by the school board. This dismissal did not stop her from changing the lives of African Americans on a political and educational level. It just fueled her passion and love of helping the community.
Voting rights was a major topic at that time and Clark was outraged that southern blacks had the right to vote but were violently kept from the polls. Teaching blacks how to read and write was illegal until slavery ended in the late 1860’s and it impacted our communities tremendously. Even if they made it to the polls they could not vote if found illiterate. In 1954 & 1955 Clark had the opportunity to run a workshop at the Tennessee Highlander Folk Center where she taught literacy and how to be a productive citizen. Both concepts gave blacks invaluable tools. The workshops were a major success and Clark saw a need to have similar workshops in communities outside of TN. Therefore, she ran both the Highlander Folk Center literacy program and established her first Citizens School on Johns Island, South Carolina with the help of her cousin, Bernice Robinson and Esau Jenkins. The school operated in secrecy to avoid backlash from whites. Esau Jenkins was a bus driver who transported blacks from the island to the mainland so Clark used this as an opportunity. The initial and many classes after were held on the bus between commutes.
The racial climate did not ease but Clark and her counterparts worked diligently to provide communities with vital educational tools. She continued to serve both the Citizen School and the Highlander until racial injustices interrupted their progress. In 1959 Clark was teaching at the Highlander when Tennessee authorities raided the school, arrested the staff and abruptly closed the institution due to integration violations. After this, the Citizen School needed a new foundation and Clark wasn’t the only person who recognize this. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), led by Dr. Martin Luther King reached out to Clark about the future of her Citizen School. Her partnership with the SCLC prompted an expansion and Clark became the Director of Education for the SCLC. During her tenure, she, along with Dr. Martin Luther King and others within the SCLC began strategizing the future of black literacy at the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.
The Citizen School was in operation from 1957-1970 but Clark also had a hand in establishing over 1,000 black schools in the south. She remained heavily active in politics, civil rights and women’s rights. Clark was coined as “The Mother of the Movement” by Dr. Martin Luther King and President Jimmy Carter gave her the Living Legacy Award in 1979. She was presented with the Palmetto Award which is the highest citizen award in South Carolina. The SCLC also awarded her with their highest award, the Drum Major for Justice Award. After retirement, Clark returned to Johns Island, South Carolina and established affordable day care. Her contributions to the black community did not end until December 15, 1987 when she passed away at the age of 89.
Image is Septima Clark and Rosa Parks at Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee, 1955, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
