*Alexander G. Clark was a Black lawyer, activist and Barber In 1867, Clark sued and won a school segregation case, preceding by 86 years the landmark 1954 Brown V. Board of Education Supreme Court decision! Throughout his life, Clark worked to improve the status of blacks in Iowa. In 1855, he and 32 other blacks in Muscatine County petitioned the Iowa Legislature to repeal the law prohibiting the immigration of free Negroes into this State. The plea was rejected. He is best remembered today for winning a lawsuit to against a segregated school. In 1867, when the Muscatine school district said Clarks daughter, Susan, 12, couldnt attend the same public school that white students attended, he sued. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in his favor in 1868, saying that all children could attend a common school. Clark sued, preceding by 86 years the landmark 1954 ruling in a Topeka, Kan., case. The U.S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Topeka, Kan., Board of Education reversed the separate but equal education policy. Clarks lawsuit made Iowa one of the first states to integrate its public school systems. In 1869, a state convention appointed him a delegate to the Colored National Convention in Washington, D.C., where he had the opportunity to meet with President Grant. In 1873, Grant offered Clark an appointment as ambassador to Haiti, but Clark turned down the position because he felt the salary was too small. ----------------------- Click to Listen, Celebrate Black History Weekly with The Gist of Freedom BlackHistoryBLOG on iTunes WWW.BlackHistoryUniversity -----------------------iptv.org/iowastories/story.cfm/alexander_clark/9056/acl_20120118_lost_history_alexander_clark/video ----------------------- Finally a book that will put the Dred Scott decision in its proper context! The Catalyst for The Dred Scott Decision??? Weary from a growing trend, Enslaved Blacks Successfully Suing for freedom, Judge Taney and the Slave Institution were forced to retaliate, so In March of 1857, they attempted to strip ALL blacks, (free and enslaved), from their political power, their rights to exercise their rights to vote and to sue, sseek justice, due process. African Americans are a people, who throughout history, although with insurmountable odds against them, with the faith of David against Goliath have been known to fight the good fight on every front, Physically, Politically and Spiritually! Understanding our legacy and in an attempt to weaken our momentum, The United States Supreme Court, led by a slaver, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens, of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the countrys territories. SLAVES WHO SUED FOR FREEDOM -- New research uncovers a little-known force for abolition: captives who took their masters to court. (image of Lucy Delaney, who sued for her freedom and won.)
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 00:58:36 +0000
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