South Carolina Hall Of Fame: Septima Poinsette Clark

Born in Charleston, SC, Septima Poinsette Clark was an American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the American Civil Rights Movement. Septima Clark's work was commonly under appreciated by Southern male activists. She became known as the "Queen mother" or "Grandmother of the American Civil Rights Movement" in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. commonly referred to Clark as "The Mother of the Movement." Clark's argument for her position in the civil rights movement was one that claimed "knowledge could empower marginalized groups in ways that formal legal equality couldn't."