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Septima Poinsette Clark

Septima Poinsette Clark
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Brian Lanker, 31 Aug 1947 - 13 Mar 2011
Sitter
Septima Poinsette Clark, 3 May 1898 - 15 Dec 1987
Date
1987
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 71.2 × 71.4 cm (28 1/16 × 28 1/8")
Sheet/Mount: 82 × 75.4 cm (32 5/16 × 29 11/16")
Mat: 88.3 × 87 cm (34 3/4 × 34 1/4")
Frame: 91 × 89.7 × 4.4 cm (35 13/16 × 35 5/16 × 1 3/4")
Topic
Interior
Septima Poinsette Clark: Female
Septima Poinsette Clark: Education and Scholarship\Educator
Septima Poinsette Clark: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of Lynda Lanker and a museum purchase made possible with generous support from Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker, Agnes Gund, Kate Kelly and George Schweitzer, Lyndon J. Barrois Sr. and Janine Sherman Barrois, and Mark and Cindy Aron
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Brian Lanker Archive
Object number
NPG.2021.93
Exhibition Label
Born Charleston, South Carolina
“I’ll tell children of the future that they have to stand up for their rights. They have an idea that they can. But I feel that they are shadows underneath a great shelter and that they need to come forth and stand up for some of the things that are right.”
— Septima Poinsette Clark
Educator and grassroots activist Septima Poinsette Clark spearheaded literacy and citizenship training programs that were vital to the civil rights movement in the 1960s. A teacher by training, Clark was part of a successful 1920 campaign in Charleston, South Carolina, to secure the right of African Americans to teach in the city’s public schools. In 1945, while teaching in Columbia, she worked with Thurgood Marshall and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to win pay equity for Black and white teachers.
When South Carolina barred public employees from membership in civil rights organizations in 1956, Clark was fired from her Charleston teaching post after refusing to resign from the NAACP. Hired by the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, she led its citizenship workshops until the state closed the progressive education center in 1961. Clark continued her citizenship initiative through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and trained countless community leaders until her retirement in 1970.
Nacida en Charleston, Carolina del Sur
“Les diré a los niños del futuro que tienen que defender sus derechos. Sospechan que pueden hacerlo, pero siento que son como sombras bajo un gran refugio, y deben dar un paso al frente para defender ciertas cosas que son justas.”
—Septima Poinsette Clark
La educadora y activista comunitaria Septima Poinsette Clark inició programas de alfabetización y educación ciudadana que fueron vitales para el movimiento de derechos civiles en la década de 1960. Maestra de profesión, participó en 1920 en una exitosa campaña en Charleston, Carolina del Sur, por el derecho de los afroamericanos a enseñar en las escuelas públicas de la ciudad. En 1945, siendo maestra en la ciudad de Columbia, colaboró con Thurgood Marshall y la Asociación Nacional para el Progreso de las Personas de Color para lograr equidad salarial entre los maestros blancos y negros.
En 1956 Carolina del Sur prohibió a los empleados públicos pertenecer a organizaciones de derechos civiles. Clark fue despedida de su puesto en Charleston por negarse a renunciar a la NAACP. Fue contratada en Tennessee por la Highlander Folk School, un centro educativo progresista, y dirigió los seminarios cívicos de la escuela hasta que el estado la cerró en 1961. Clark continuó su labor cívica con la Conferencia Sureña de Líderes Cristianos y adiestró a muchos líderes comunitarios hasta retirarse en 1970.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view