Septima P. Clark papers, ca. 1910-ca. 1990.
Title:
Septima P. Clark papers, ca. 1910-ca. 1990.
The collection contains several series. Biographical papers include tributes, clippings, certificates, awards, family correspondence and transcripts of various oral history interviews in which Clark discusses her parents; husband; growing up and race relations in Charleston, S.C.; work with Myles and Zylphia Horton, Guy and Candie Carawan and others, such as Bernice Robinson and Esau Jenkins in such places as Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn. and on Johns Island, S.C.; Judge J. Waties and Elizabeth Waring; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; her work in Citizenship Schools; her work at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and in the Civil Rights Movement with people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Stokely Carmichael, Dorothy Cotton, Ella Baker, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, Ralph David Abernathy and others. She often mentions the inferior way women were treated by SCLC staff and there are a few references to the Charleston, S.C. Hospital Workers' strike (1969). A series on her works includes a photocopy of her autobiography Echo in My Soul (1962), with related papers; handwritten, typed, photocopied and printed versions of talks and essays on civil rights, race and racism, non-violence, God and religion, American youth, tributes to individuals and other topics. Her correspondence, mostly arranged by correspondent, includes numerous local and state black and white politicians; a partial letter to Ella Gerber re Porgy and Bess, a significant series of letters with writer Josephine Carson (Rider), and from Spelman College professor Vincent Harding, with some of his articles. Presidential materials include a photocopy of a Jimmy Carter letter; a letter (1975) from Gerald Ford; and an invitation (1969) to inauguration of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. A series documenting her affiliations begins with a her association with Charleston schools, and contains photocopies of correspondence re: losing of her job (1956) as a teacher for being a member of the NAACP; her service (1975-1978) on the Charleston County School Board; and other connections with various educational endeavors. The series also includes papers (ca. 1955- 1983) re: her association with the Highlander Folk Center; papers (ca. 1961-1967) re: her work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, with material on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the trip (1964) to Oslo, Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; papers (1962-1977) re: Penn Community Center, Frogmore, S.C. and Clark's relationship with it; publications, program materials and correspondence (ca. 1955-1977) re: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and local Charleston Chapter, Gamma Xi Omega; materials re: various women's groups with which she was affiliated including the Coming Street YWCA (Charleston, S.C.), S.C. Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, National Council of Negro Women, and others; materials re: various civil rights, African American and political groups and causes for which she worked, including, Blacks United for Action; Charleston Liberation Party; Citizens' Committee of Charleston County; a list of grievances re: the 1969 Charleston Hospital Workers' strike, brochures from various African American political campaigns (including Marjorie Amos, George Fuller, Victoria DeLee, George Payton and others), groups to free jailed African Americans (including Robert Lee Smith, convicted of murder at age 13); the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, State Advisory Committee of S.C.; Neighborhood Legal Assistance and other similar groups. Her church papers include materials re: Old Bethel Methodist Church, Charleston, S.C., and other various Methodist groups, and her papers documenting her relationship with arts groups contain a nearly complete script of Sea Island Song by Alice Childress ...
ArchivalResource:
11.5 linear ft.
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