Social Transformations: Septima Poinsette Clark’s Pedagogical Practices

• In Event: Frequently Asked Questions: Engendering the Lives, Work, and Careers of “Little Known” Black Women Educators Who Made History

Abstract

This panel presentation explores the lives, work and careers of four “little known” black women educators—at least outside of academic circles—who made history: Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987), Ethel Thompson Overby (1892-1977), Merze Tate (1905-1996) and Marion Thompson Wright (1905-1962). Through a telling and re-telling of their biographies, which has presented some methodological challenges for each researcher, panelists argue that simply knowing about their lives, work and careers is not enough; rather, knowing about their lives can tell us a great deal about what academics can do “behind the scenes” or “offstage” to improve educational access and opportunity and to serve the public good. As scholars today work to imagine policies and practices in schools and communities that can bring about social justice in education, these black women theorized educational policies and practices that are just as timely today as when they lived.

Septima Poinsette Clark developed an adult literacy curriculum that provided the basis for the citizenship schools throughout the South during the Jim Crow era. In these schools, thousands of southern, rural, poor Blacks learned to read, write, and vote. As a result of their training in these schools, many Blacks registered to vote. Their voting power facilitated the transformation of the southern political structure by striking a near fatal blow to state sanctioned segregation voting laws. Clark’s writings and oral southern history interview reveal that she was truly concerned about issues of literacy, freedom, and justice. Her critiques challenged southern segregated educational policies that played a role in the marginalization of poor African Americans.

Author

• Karen Ann Johnson, University of Utah