“Study Rather than Believe”: Septima P. Clark’s Civic Education Lessons for Social Studies Education

• In Event: Global Citizenship in Motion: Critical Pedagogies of Race, History, and Decolonization

Abstract

Many in and outside the social studies community are familiar with associated names of the civil rights movement, especially figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Rosa Parks, but unanswered questions remain about key contributors to civic education that helped define this period and expanded the promises of multiracial democracy, particularly for Black Americans. To address this gap, this project highlighted Mrs. Septima Poinsette Clark’s contributions to civic education, situating her contributions as central to the broader social studies education project of citizenship.

Authors

• Kristen Duncan, Clemson University

• Tiffany O. Harris, College of Charleston

• ArCasia D. James-Gallaway, Texas A&M University