Happy Black History Month! Happy Valentine's Day!
And do you know of Septima Poinsette Clark?
Her contributions to human rights, civil rights, voting rights, labor rights, the teaching profession, public education, and Adult Education were profound - yet, as is so often the case with the contributions of Black women, they are rarely discussed in the classroom.
And by classroom, I mean not only K12 and college classrooms but also teaching training programs - specifically those for Adult Education teaching and administration credentials.
We currently face a teaching shortage in all branches of education. Due to the impact of the cuts and closures a few years back, this shortage may be most extreme in Adult Education. We also face in all branches of education a lack of diversity in teachers and administrators.
Now would be a good time to consider a scholarship in Septima Poinsette Clark's name to invite in more Black women to the profession -- How that scholarship would be funded --What would the parameters would be --Whether the intended recipients should be broader than Black women to include other women of color --These are all questions to consider and discuss.
Read through the information below to learn a bit more about Septima Poinsette Clark and her phenomenal impact on the US, the Civil Rights movement, the teaching profession, and Adult Education. Ask your colleagues in the field - in professional organizations, unions, and faculty rooms - what they know about her, why they they do or don't know about her, what their thoughts are on the current teacher shortage, and the need for more diversity in teaching and administration.
Your thoughts and recommendations are welcome here - in the comments or a published guest post.
Septima Poinsette Clark
Black History is Adult Education History
Black History is Women’s History
Black History is Labor History
Black History is Human Rights History
Black History is Citizenship History
Black History is American History
https://ncwomenofcivilrights.wordpress.com/septima-clark/highlander-and-citizenship-schools/ Highlander Center and Citizenship Schools
When Septima Clark lost her teaching job in Charleston, she left South Carolina to work at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. At Highlander, Clark continued her passion for adult education, and taught students and visitors from all over the South to read by reciting parts of the U.S. Constitution. The Highlander School held workshops for Civil Rights activists, and trained its students to become community leaders through a range of seminars on topics including union organization, human rights discussions, voter education, and basic skills like money management. Highlander attracted both white and African American Southerners of all education levels to converge and discuss social issues. Attendees also had the privilege of listening to inspiring speakers including Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to help spark social activism. Septima’s work at Highlander led to the birth of other citizenship schools across the South.1
Clark, Septima Poinsette | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute
A pioneer in grassroots citizenship education, Septima Clark was called the “Mother of the Movement” and the epitome of a “community teacher, intuitive fighter for human rights and leader of her unlettered and disillusioned people” (McFadden, “Septima Clark,” 85; King, July 1962).
The daughter of a laundrywoman and a former slave, Clark was born 3 May 1898 in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1916 she graduated from secondary school and, after passing her teacher’s exam, taught at a black school on Johns Island, just outside of Charleston. For more than 30 years, she taught throughout South Carolina, including 18 years in Columbia and 9 in Charleston.
Septima Clark - SNCC Digital
“Septima Poinsette Clark pioneered the link between education and political organizing, especially political organizing aimed at gaining the right to vote. “Literacy means liberation,” she stressed knowing that education was key to gaining political, economic, and social power.
Long before SNCC’s Freedom Schools, Clark was developing a grassroots citizenship education program that used everyday materials to think about big questions.” - SNCC
Septima’s Life - in her own words:
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