How Did Septima Clark Play In The Civil Rights Movement
499 Words2 Pages
maContrary to the popular visage of the civil rights movement, women served as major leaders, organizers, and strategists who assisted in sculpting the direction in which the movement would take on. One could even subscribe to the notion that women are mainly responsible for setting the civil rights movement into motion. The women of the civil rights movement proved their ferocity and strength my putting themselves on the frontlines of the movement for social, political, and economical reform and equality.
One of the earliest matriarchs of the the civil rights movement was Septima Clark. A teacher by trade, Clark devoted her life to activism through teaching and committed to the idea that education was the key to political empowerment. Clark received her teaching credentials from Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, South Carolina. During this time, black teachers were prohibited from teaching in Charleston, so her first three years in the workforce were spent on staff at John’s Island, South Carolina. There, she tried to instituting adult literacy classes through the NAACP, in order to address some of the educational inequities that were taking place at John’s Island.When Clark returned to Avery Institute, she spearheaded a campaign against Charleston’s restrictive policies, and overturned the same laws one year later. Her…show more content… “She told Brown, "Those men didn't have any faith in women, none whatsoever." Though Clark had tremendous respect for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision and his nonviolent example, she "had a great feeling that [he] didn't think too much of women, either." She recalled that when she traveled with him, "he would say, 'Anything I can't answer, ask Mrs. Clark.' But he didn't mean it, because I never did get the chance to