hcship.wikispaces.comClark+DBQ.docx · Web viewWhat made Septima Poinsette Clark an effective Civil Rights leader? Taken from Septima Poinsette Clark’s Obituary (1987) and The Utility

What made Septima Poinsette Clark an effective Civil Rights leader?

Overview: For almost a century after the Civil War, African-Americas had struggled for equal treatment and justice in America. Even after passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in the US Constitution, African-American were disenfranchised. Combining education and literacy with economics and politics, Clark’s citizenship education “decreased local people’s fear of white reprisals and made them willing to accept the responsibilities of leading citizens.”The Documents:

Document A: The Promiseland School

Document B: Clark’s Dismissal from SC School SystemDocument C: Highlander SchoolDocument D: Editorial on Clark’s Arrest Document E: The Joy of Life

Hook Exercise: Septima ClarkDirections: Below is a list of eight traits or characteristics of an effective leader. You have two tasks.Task One: Next to each trait, name a person you regard as a strong leader who had that trait.

1. Clear goal

2. Courage

3. Integrity

4. Willingness to sacrifice

5. Money to get things done

6. Persistence

7. Of the people, with the people

8. Tough when necessary

Task Two: List three traits from this list that you believe a person must have to be an effective leader. Be ready to discuss your choices.


Septima Poinsette Clark, daughter of Victoria Anderson Poinsette and Peter Porche’ Poinsette, was born in Charleston, SC on May 3, 1898 into a world that had been shaped as African

Americans had gained and lost political power after the Civil War. Her father had been born a slave, and her mother was a native of Haiti.


She attended a private school for blacks, then a black public school before entering Avery Institute in Charleston. She began her long teaching career in a public school for blacks on John’s Island, also earning a bachelor’s degree at Benedict College and a master’s degree from Hampton Institute in Virginia.

In 1918, she left John’s Island to take a teaching post at Avery Institute. At that time, Mrs. Clark was instrumental in getting some 20,000 signatures on a petition to have black teachers hired by the Charleston County School District.Moving to Columbia to teach in 1927, she helped in a campaign to equalize


teacher salaries. After she lost her job in South Carolina because of her activities in the NAACP, Mrs. Clark worked at the Highlander Fold School in Tennessee.She became widely known as a lecturer under the sponsorship of the Highlander School, and her travels took her to al the then 48 states, to

Canada and to other foreign countries. Mrs. Clark work in the field of civil rights was recognized by many organizations nationwide. In 1964, she was selected as one of a group to accompany the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Kind to Norway when he was presented the Nobel Peace Prize.


Mrs. Clark held memberships in the SC Council of Human Relations, the National Adult Education Association and the League of Women Voters. She donated her paper to the Robert Scott Small Library at the College of Charleston.

In 1956, she was denied employment in the state of SC due

to her involvement in the NAACP; she became the Director of Teacher Training Citizen Workshops at Highlander and then became Director of Education.Mrs. Clark was elected in 1974 to the Charleston County School Board. “I need to be right in there to say to these people there’s another side to


the picture, the humanitarian side. I have a feeling that you’re not working with a piece of clay that you can mash and figure and fix in your way. You’re working with a human being who has a mind of his own and who you have to try to see that he thinks in the right direction,” said Clark in an interview. In 1976 she was the recipient of the

Humanitarian Award of the National Education Association.Mrs. Clark has spent nearly all her adult life teaching citizenship to children, whom as she states, aren’t citizens. She is now devoting full time to the struggle for equal opportunities for the members of her race.


Clark is indeed a woman of great integrity, honesty and dauntless courage, fearless and with strong determination, who has suffered severe hardships, made untold sacrifices and for many years has been subjected to a program of unspeakable harassment, ridiculous and outrageous accusations, indignities and persecutions.

What made Septima Poinsette Clark and effective Civil Rights leader?

Document A

Source: Grace Jordan McFadden. “South Carolinians and the Quest for Human Rights: Septima Clark, A Mighty Warrior.”

“I had to take an examination of eleven subjects in order to teach…I received the licentiate of instruction and went over to John’s Island to teach in a two-teacher school there. In that two-teacher school building that was creosoted black. We were all Black together. Across the road from where I worked was a white schoolhouse that was whitewashed and three children attending that with one teacher. That teacher received $85.00 a month for her teaching and living. And, the rest of us, the two teachers who taught across the street – I was the teaching principal; so I got $35.00 and the assistant $25.00. Both of us made $60.00 to the one teacher who made $85.00 for three children. And, there we were working for $60.00 a month with 132 children.”

1. Describe the “Promiseland School” shown in the above picture.

2. How much did Septima Poinsette Clark get paid a month and how many students attended the school?

3. How much did the white teacher receive a month and how many children attended the school?

Document B

Source: Margaret Locklair. Evening Post. “Septima Clark has seen it happen.”

For Mrs. Clark, the denouement came in 1956. She was back in Charleston, teaching seventh-grade language arts at Rhett School, when the General Assembly (SC) voted that no state employee could hold membership in the NAACP. Mrs. Clark refused to give up the organization which, she felt, had done so much to improve her working conditions. And the Charleston County School Board dismissed her. She had a master’s degree and 40 years’ experience in the classroom. But she couldn’t teach.

“My phone rang night and day. People would say, ‘I’m sorry—I’m so sorry.’ Some people asked why I didn’t resign—why would I let them dismiss me. I asked them why they didn’t speak up for me and they would say they were afraid.”

“I was angry. I searched my soul night after night. I wanted to stay in the fight and make people realize you had to pressure for everything you get in American. You have to fight to live in America.”

1. Why do you think South Carolina passed a law stating teachers could not be members of the NAACP?

2. Why didn’t Septima Clark resign instead of being dismissed from her teaching job?

3. How do you think Septima Clark felt that most people would not stand up for her and the decision to remain a member of the NAACP?

Document C

Source: Septima Clark. Freedomways. Volume 4, #1. 1964.

“I learned of Highlander in 1952 but attended my first workshop in 1954. In 1955 I directed my first workshop and did door to door recruiting for the school. Unable to drive myself I found a driver for my car and made three trips from Johns Island, South Carolina to Monteagle, Tennessee. On each trip six islanders attended and were motivated. They became literate and are still working for liberation. In 1954 in the south, segregation was their main barrier in the way of realization of democracy and brotherhood. Highlander was an important place because Negroes and whites met on equal basis and discussed their problems together.”

1. Describe the picture above.

2. What three words stand out?

3. Why was Highlander and important place?

Document D

Source: Jackie Robinson. New York Post. May 2, 1960.

Mrs. Clark reports that the school is still open and operating, however, as appeals are fought through the courts. Highlander had been padlocked after state and county officers raided the place, allegedly “searching for liquor.” They found no liquor at the school, but placed Mrs. Clark under arrest and charged her with “possessing whiskey.” When three white staff members expressed concern that Mrs. Clark, a Negro, be accorded fair treatment, they, too, were arrested and charged with “interference.”

After a hearing late August, attorney Cecil Branstetter was quoted in the Chattanooga Times as saying: “I have never before seen a witness so abused as the attorney general has abused our witness—perhaps because she is colored.” Mrs. Clark’s trial comes up in July. Formerly a South Carolina public school teacher, she was fired after 27 years for refusing to drop her membership in the NAACP. In her six years at Highlander, she has stressed preparation for voter registration, despite frequent threats to “run that n@@@@@ of the mountain.”

1. Why did the police raid the Highlander school?

2. What happened to the three white staff members who stood up for Septima P. Clark?

3. Why does Cecil Branstetter believe that Septima P. Clark is being abused by the Attorney General?

4. What was a major concern of Septima P. Clark’s at Highlander?

Document E

Source: Septima Poinsette Clark. The Joy of Life. 1972.

The Christian meaning of JOY is not absence of disappointments, suffering, failure, tension or conflict. It is rather that men and women are still able—in spite of trials—to believe that the

future is open to new possibilities and that love which comes out of pain has a special quality of goodness.

Christians are merry men of God who are merry when there seems to be nothing to be merry about.

May the Spirit of the Christ Child give you faith and fortitude to accept the changes, analyze the uncertainties, the shock, the disappointments and the tension so that the quality of His joy may

be evident in our lives as we search for peace and freedom this yuletide and forever.

1. What is Clark’s description of joy?

2. What is Clark’s description of Christians?

3. What does Clark believe is important to accept in order to understand the “joy of life?”

National Civics and Government StandardsWhat are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?

A. What is citizenship? B. What are the rights of citizens? C. What are the responsibilities of citizens? D. What civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are

important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?

E. How can citizens take part in civic life?

FL State StandardsStandard 2: Evaluate the roles, rights, and responsibilities of US citizens and determine methods of active participation in society, government, and the political system.SS.912.c.2.2: Evaluate the importance of political participation and civic participation.SS.912.C.2.8: Analyze the impact of citizen participation as a means of achieving political and social change.SS.912.C.2.9: Identify the expansion of civil rights and liberties by examining the principles contained in primary documents.