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| Septima is on the left Rosa Park is on the right. |
Victoria had never been a slave,and vowed to never be anyone's servant.She returned to Charleston after the Civil War and worked as a launder.She raised her children very strictly,only permitting them to play with other children on one day of the week,Victoria was also determined to make her daughters into ladies,she told them never to go without gloves on,never yell,never eat on the street,etc Victoria Warren Anderson Poinsette lived in a constant struggle of wanting to improve her social class;she wanted to live in a middle-class society,but on a working-class budget.Victoria made it well aware to Peter that he was not providing enough for her and their family.She raised her children separated,with the boys having more lenient rules than the girls.The boys could have friends over and play many days of the week,the girls had to do chores and lessons,every other day than Friday.Septima rebelled against her mama's strictness through never becoming the lady she wished her to be and marrying a man Victoria called a "stranger" Septima remembers only ever being pushed by her daddy when she did not want to attend school;he was not able to write his own name until the later years of his life.Septima first educational experience was in 1904,she was 6,and started attending Mary Street School.All she did at this school was sit on a set of bleachers with a hundred other six-year-old's,learning nothing.Her mama took her out of that school.An elderly woman across the street from their house was schooling girls,Septima learned to read and write there.Due to Victoria's poor financial status,she watched the woman's children every morning and afternoon in return her tuition was paid for.At this time there was not a high school in Charleston for African American.In 1914 a school opened for African Americans in 6th,7th,8 grade.After sixth grade,she took a test and went on to ninth grade at Avery.
Avery as a high school founded by missionaries from Massachusetts.All of the teachers were white women,whom Septima admired.In 1914 African American teachers were hired and this brought much controversy to the city,which Septima took part in through the NAACP.Septima graduated from high school in 1916.Due to financial constraints,she was not able to attend college initially,took a state examination and began working as a school teacher on John's Island at 18.She taught on the from 1916-1919 at Promise Land School and then returned to Avery from 1919-1920.Septima was able to return to school part-time in Columbia,South Carolina public schools,in Columbia South Carolina to complete her B.A. at Benedict in 1942 and then she received her M.A. from Hampton.As an African-American,Septima was barred from teaching in the Charleston,South Carolina public schools,but was able to find a position teaching in a rural school district,on John's Island the largest of the Sea Islands.During this time,she taught children during the day and illiterate adults on her own time a night.During this period she developed
innovative methods to rapidly teach adults to read and write,based on everyday materials like the Sears catalog.
She recalls the gross discrepancies that existed between her school and the white school across the street.Septima's school had 132 students and only one other teacher.As the teaching principal,septima made $35 per week,while the other make $25.Meanwhile,the school across the street had only three students,and the teacher who worked there received $85 per week.It was her first-hand experience with these inequalities that led Septima to become an active proponent for pay equalization for teachers.It was in 1919 that her pay equalization work brought her into the movement for civil rights.In an interview In an interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?, she explains,how these experiences with her education,as well,
as her early experiences with growning up in a racist Charleston and teaching in the slums,prompted her to want to work towards civil rights.
Septima first heard of the NAACP while she teaching on John's Island from 1916-1919.There was no NAACP chapter on John's Island,but a meeting was held in which various preachers came and spoke about what the NAACP was and what exactly it was trying to do.The superintendent was in attendance to
collect dues and it was then that she decided to join the organization.In 1919,
Septima returned to Charleston to teach sixth grade at Avery Normal Institute,a private academy for African-American children.In Charleston she joined the Charleston Branch of the NAACP and began attending meetings regularly of the NAACP.Under the guidance of Edmund Austin,the
President of the local NAACP Charleston,Septima took part in her first political action with the NAACP Charleston.Despite the orders of her principal,Septima led her students around the city,going door-to-door,asking for signatures on a petition to allow African-American principals at Avery.
She got 10,000 signatures in a day's time and in 1920 African-American teachers were permitted.In 1920,Septima enjoyed the first of many legal victories when African-Americans were given the right to become principals in Charleston's public schools,under the education board of alderman of Charleston.Her participation in the NAACP was Septima's first statement in political action.In 1945,Septima worked with Thurgood Marshall on a case that was about equal pay for white and African-American teachers led by NAACP in Columbia,South Carolina.
The late-1940s proved to be a difficult time for Septima as she stood up with the NAACP's aim of equalization to integration against many other members
and activists.
While teaching at Avery from 1919-1920,she met Nerie David Clark.He worked
as a warden cook on a submarine in the navy during World War I.In late 1920's she went to teach in McCleeanville until 1922.She and Nerie wrote letters back and forth dated for approximately three years and got married in 1923.They got married in McCeenville and then shortly moved to Hickory,North Carolina,Nerie's hometown.Septima's mama was disgraced by
her marriage.Victoria believed to marry any man outside of the state is to marry a stranger.She refused to have her in-laws for dinner of for any occasion.The marriage severed Victoria and Septima's relationship.While living in Hickory with Nerie's family,Septima became aware of the many cultural ideal and differences they had.They grew up in different worlds; a mountain man and a low-country girl.In Hickory,Septima attended the church Nerie's family did,which was an African Methodist Church.She found this church to be more of a community than her church in Charleston,the United Methodist Church.Throughout her religious journey in life,she found
there are many ways to serve god,rather than only one correct way.Septima
got homesick,they moved back to Charleston,where she taught at Promise Land again from 1926-1929.In Charleston,they had their first child,which died.Septima viewed the death of her baby as a punishment to her because she
married a man from South Carolina.Her mama was sympathetic and refused to help her; her daddy was friendlier towards her.To get over her lost baby,
she took a job with a white woman for a summer.They stayed in the mountain
for the summer and the woman was helpless,which gave Septima optimism and hope.She then moved to Columbia and began teaching in 1929.It was in Columbia septima got much more involved in civic activities.
She settled in Columbia,South in 1929,and accepted a teaching position that year.In total, it appears that Septima spent a total of 17 years in Columbia,
South Carolina.Much of her work there is documented by the University of South Carolina History Department which,under the direction of B.J.Donaldson,has conducted extensive research on African American education,with special emphasis on the history of Booker T.Washington High
School.In 1929,Septima was employed at Booker T.Washington.where she is still remembered as an outstanding educator.She worked closely with the principals of Booker T.Washington,both C.A. Johnson who recruited her for the teaching position she would hold for 17 years and later with J.Andrew Simmons,who was originally from Charleston and whom she may have known
previous to their working together in Columbia.While in Columbia,Septima
completed the foundations upon which her career,reputation,and memory would rest:she became a highly valued faculty member at Booker T.Washington High School,she completed her bachelor's degree at Columbia's Benedict College,and she completed her graduate studies at New York's Columbia University and Atlanta's Clark College.The level and quality of the
education that Septima achieved was typical of what was required by the administrators of the Booker T.Washington High School of Columbia who recruited highly trained teachers from all over the country.After J.Andrew Simmons left Booker T.Washington High School to take a position in New York in 1945,Septima stayed on for two additional years,before finally leaving Booker T.Washington High School,an institution she helped to mold in order to return to Charleston,to take care of her ailing mama.
During this time,Septima had trouble providing for Nerie,Jr. In 1935 she decided to send him back to Hickory to live with his paternal grandparents.
Her decision to send him to live with his paternal grandparents was a common action at this time due to slavery and financial issues.Septima marriage to Nerie Sr. resulted in a course of depression for her,as well as a significant decline in her self-confidence.
During summers,Septima began studies at Columbia University in New York,
and at Atlanta University in Georgia with the landmark figure in the racial
equality movement,W.E.B. Du Bois between 1942 & 1945,she received a bachelor's degree from Benedict College,Columbia,South Carolina and a master's degree from Hampton (Virginia) Institute (now Hampton University).While earning her B.A., she was taking classes in the morning,
teaching from noon to five in the afternoons,and taking more classes in the evenings.Septima was making 62.50 dollars a month in college and every summer she traveled to Maine to make more money.The NAACP in Columbia,
had approximately 800 members and were all African Americans.The biggest NAACP impact during Septima's time in Columbia was they sponsored
a suit that won the equalization of teacher salaries.It was a huge win for the NAACP.In 1947,Septima returned to Charleston public schools,she was active
with the YWCA,and served as membership chairperson of the Charleston NAACP.The YWCA was one of the few organizations in Charleston that was
interracial.There were African American & white branches.In 1956,she obtained the position of the Charleston NAACP branch.
That same year,the South Carolina legislature passed a law banning city or
state employees from being involved with civil rights organizations.Septima
believed that a combination of relations,such as social and power relations,
were a major contributor to schooling.She was upfront in her refusal to leave the NAACP,and was fired from her job by the Charleston City Board,losing her pension after 40 years employment.She soon found that no school in Charleston would hire her.An African American teachers' sorority held a fundraiser for benefit,no member would have their picture taken with her,fearing they would lose their jobs.
Around this time,Septima was active with the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle,Tennessee.She first attended a workshop there in 1954.Myles Horton,the founder of Highlander,quickly hired her as the full-time director
of workshops.Before long she was teaching literacy courses,drawing on her
experiences on John's Island."In a compressed week's workshop,Septima promised to turn sharecroppers and other unschooled Negros into potential voters."
Highlander was one of the few interracial schools in the South at the time and
Septima prospered as a teacher there.After being fired and unwelcomed in her hometown,Septima found Highlander to be a great community.In 1959,while she was teaching at Highlander she was arrested for allegedly "possessing whiskey"; these charges were later dropped and seen as false.
She and her cousin,Bernice Robinson,expanded and spread the program.They
taught students how to fill out driver's license exams,voter registration forms,
sears mail-order forms,and Sears-mail order forms,and how to sign checks.
Septima also served as Highlander's director of workshops,recruiting teachers and students.One of the participants in her workshops was Rosa Parks.A few months after participating in the workshops Rosa helped start the Montgomery Bus Boycott.Additionally,many other women who took part
in the Montgomery Bus Boycott attended Highlander,the teaching of Septima.Upon seeing the success of Septima,Ella Baker traveled to Highlander as a representative of SCLC and observed to see if Septima's program could be incorporated into SCLC's Crusade for Citizenship.
Septima is most famous for establishing "Citizenship Schools" teaching reading to adults throughout the Deep South,in hopes of carrying on a tradition.The creation of citizenship schools developed from Septima teaching
of adult literacy courses throughout the interwar years.While the project served to increase literacy,it also served as a means to empower African American communities.Her teaching approaching was very specific in making sure her students felt invested in what they were learning,so she connected the politics of the movement to the needs of the people.She was not
only teaching literacy,but also citizenship rights.Septima's goal were to provide self-pride,cultural-pride,literacy,and a sense of one's citizenship rights.She was recruiting the rural communities to get involved with the
movement.Citizenship schools were frequently taught in the back room of a
shop so as to elude the violence of racist whites.The teachers of citizenship
schools were often people who had learned to read as adults as well,as one
of the primary goals of the citizenship schools was to developed more local
leaders for people's movement.Teaching people how to read helped countless
African American Southerns push for the right to vote,but beyond that,it also
developed leaders across the country who would help push the civil rights movement after 1964.The citizenship schools are just one example of the empowerment strategy for developing leaders that was core to the civil rights
movement in the South.The citizenship schools are also seen as a form of support to Martin Luther King,Jr. in the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement.
The project was a response to legislation in Southern states which required
literacy and interpreting various portions of the US Constitution in order to
be allowed to register to vote.These laws were used to disenfranchise African American citizens.Citizenship Schools were based on adult literacy programs Septima and Bernice had developed at Highlander.They required a week's worth of training in a program that was ultimately
designed by Septima.She hired her cousin Bernice,to be the first teacher.
Bernice was also a Highlander alumna.In addition,to literacy,Citizenship Schools also taught students to act collectively and protest against racism.
The leadership schools ultimately spread to a number of Southern states,
growing so large that,upon the recommendation of Myles Horton and Septima,the program was transferred to the program was transferred to the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),in 1961 though initially Martin Luther King,Jr was hesitant about the idea.Transferring the program
to the SCLC was also a result of financial troubles at Highlander Folk School
in Tennessee.With the increased budget of the SCLC,the citizenship school project trained over 10,000 citizenship school teachers who led citizenship schools throughout the South,representing a popular education effort on a
massive scale.On top of these 10,000 teachers,citizenship schools reached
out and taught more than 25,000 people.By 1958,37 adults were able to pass
the voter registration test as a result of the session community schools.
Before 1969,about 700,000 African-Americans became registered voters thanks to Septima's dedication to the movement.She came to national preeminence,becoming SCLC's director of education and teaching.Septima was the first woman to gain a position on the SCLC board.Andrew Young,who
had joined Highlander the previous to work with the Citizenship Schools,also
joined the SCLC staff.The SCLC staff of citizenship schools were mainly women,as a result of the daily experience gained by becoming a teacher.Septima would struggle against sexism during her time on the SCLC,
as had Ella Baker,with the bulk of sexism emanating from Martin Luther King,Jr.Ralph Abernathy also objected to her,as Septima said,"I Can remember Reverend Abernathy asking many times,why was Septima Clark on the Executive Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference? And Dr. King would always say, 'She was the one who proposed the citizenship education which is bringing to us not only money but a lot of people who will register and vote.' And he asked that many times.It was hard for him to see a woman on that Executive Board." Septima claimed being
unequally was " one of the greatest weaknesses of the civil rights movement.
During her career in service organizations,she also worked with the Tuberculosis Association and the Charleston Health Department.She was also
art active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.Septima retired from active work with the SCLC in 1970.She later sought reinstatement of the pension and back salary that had been canceled when she was dismissed as a
teacher in 1956,which she won.Septima was later to serve two terms on the Charleston School Board.
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