Susan Clark
Susan V. Clark (December 6, 1854 – June 1, 1925)[citation needed] was an African-American woman best known as the 12-year-old plaintiff in a landmark school desegregation case in Iowa. Denied admission to her all-white neighborhood school in September 1867, her father sued on her behalf and won in district court. The school board appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court which ruled in her favor in April 1868, declaring all Iowa students entitled to public school education without regard to "nationality, religion, color, clothing or the like." See Clark v. Board of School Directors. She married the Rev. Richard E. Holley, a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and lived most of her life in Iowa. Later as a widow she lived in Chicago where her father Alexander Clark had been owner and editor of The Chicago Conservator.
Error in court documents[edit]
Susan's middle initial is recorded as "B" in court documents and some news reports, but throughout life she consistently used the initial "V" which might stand for Virginia, the state where her mother Catherine Griffin Clark was born.[citation needed]
Discovering the Susan Clark story[edit]
In 2018 Drake University held events observing the sesquicentennial of the 1868 Susan Clark ruling.[1]
In 2019 the Muscatine Community School District announced plans to combine middle schools with the new name Susan Clark Junior High School, to take effect in 2020-2021 school year.[2]
In 2020 the Susan Clark story was featured in a series of essays celebrating "Muscatine Women of Influence and Inspiration" as part of a year-long observance of female suffrage in the United States.[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ Wallace, Karen. "LibGuides: Clark Decision: Celebrating 150 Years of Iowa School Desegregation: Welcome". libguides.law.drake.edu.
- ↑ Hotle, David (2019-09-09). "Junior high to be named after Susan Clark, school integration trailblazer". Muscatine Journal. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
- ↑ Clark, Jean (2020-02-19). "Susan Clark 1854-1925". Discover Muscatine. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
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