Septima Poinsette Clark, Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 9:08 am by Jack Hartjes

Septima Poinsette Clark, Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement 2023-02-13T09:08:28-06:00 Jack Hartjes

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A foto of Clark and a quote: "I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth. We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than to affirm."

Septima Poinsette Clark spent her life teaching and making education a tool for racial justice.

Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals, in its May 3 entry, tells about one who was teacher, civil rights activist, and “grandmother of the civil rights movement.” I’m continuing my “Ordinary Radicals” series with Septima Poinsette Clark. Biography.com, Stanford’s King Institute, State University, and Wikipedia are my other sources.

Septima Poinsette was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1898. Her father, Peter Poinsette, had been a slave on the Poinsette farm. As house servant, he took children to and from school. After slavery he worked on a ship and met Septima’s motherin Haiti during one of his ship’s travels. Victoria Warren Anderson had been born in Charleston but moved with her brother and two sisters to Haiti in 1864. She vowed never to be anyone’s servant. (Wikipedia) All the sources agree on this timetable for Septima’s parents. It makes them pretty old when Septima was born in 1898, and they had six more children! (Biography.com)

Early trials and activism

Back in segregated Charleston, Septima’s family struggled to get her an education. She graduated from secondary school in 1916 with the desire to be a teacher. Charleston did not hire black teachers, so she taught in a black school on St. John’s Island off the Carolina coast. There she experienced the inequality of separate systems for blacks and whites (State University):

Expenditure per student — $17.02 for whites; $1.90 for blacks.
Teacher salaries — $85 per month for whites; $35 per month for Clark
Class size – no more than 18 for whites; over 60 for blacks

By 1928 Septima was advocating for equal pay for black and white teachers. It wasn’t until 1945 that she succeeded, working on a case with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP. Her salary tripled when they won their case. ((Biography.com)

Education in politics

In the 1950’s Septima started conducting summer workshops at Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee. This grassroots education center focused on social justice. Rosa Parks was one of her students a few months before the famous protest that started the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1954 the Supreme Court issued its Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that “separate but equal” was both unequal and illegal. In 1956 South Carolina prohibited city and state employees from belonging to civil rights organizations. Septima Clark had been teaching for 40 years but lost her job because she refused to resign from the NAACP.

Highlander hired Septima fulltime, and she continued her work of making education a powerful political tool. At a time when literacy tests prevented poor people from voting, she taught basic literacy skills and how to fill out voter registration forms. She emphasized the rights and duties of U.S. citizens. The state of Tennessee closed Highlander in 1961, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference took up the education cause. Septima became director of its Citizenship Education Program modeled on her own workshops. (King Institute) The program reached eleven states in the South. (State University)

The State University article comments:

As an educator within an oppressive Jim Crow system, Clark’s understanding of the connections among illiteracy, poverty, and power allowed her to link social reform and educational advancement. These were issues she spent her entire life addressing both as a teacher and a private citizen.

Retirement and recognition

Septima retired from the SCLC in 1970 but continued conducting workshops. Voters of the city of Charleston elected her to the city school board in 1975. In 1976 South Carolina’s governor reinstated her teacher’s pension, which the state had denied her when firing her back in 1956.

President Jimmy Carter gave her a Living Legacy Award in 1979. (King Institute) She also received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, in 1982. She published two autobiographies. The second, Ready from Within: Septima Clark and Civil Rights, won an American Book Award. (Biography.com)

Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals says:

Although Septima was thrown in jail, threatened, fired from jobs, and falsely accused of wrongdoing, she never turned from her task of working against an unjust educational system.

Septima Clark died at age 89 December 15, 1987. A school in Washington, D.C., a parkway and a park in Charleston, and a minor planet in the solar system are named for her. (Wikipedia)

Image credit: Pinterest

Social Justice

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 1, 2020

The DREAM Act was Introduced in Congress First by … Not a Democrat!

Next Post

May 9, 2020 Economic Scarcity and Eucharistic Abundance: Two Stories about the World

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Christmas Amazon Synod Angels Being Consumed Bible Catholic Modern Creed Ecology Economics Elizabeth Johnson Eucharist Fragments and Filaments Gender and Sex Gospel of Mark Herzog Historical Jesus Liturgy Luke Opening Scriptures on Way to Emmaus Ordinary radicals Parables Pro-Life Reincarnation Rosary Sacraments science Social Justice Souls Stories of Jesus The Creed Torture and Eucharist Tracy Uncategorized War and Peace

Select a Month October 2026 June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 July 2024 March 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz