Peter H. Clark

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Peter H. Clark (March 29, 1829 in Cincinnati, Ohio – 1925) was one of Ohio’s most effective black abolitionist writers and speakers. He became the first teacher engaged by the Cincinnati black public schools in 1849, and the founder and principal of Ohio’s first public high school for black students in 1866. Because of these accomplishments, he was named the nation’s primary black public school educator. He was also widely recognized for being a political activist who empowered black voters in Ohio.

Peter’s father, Michael Clark, was a successful barber and sent his son to private schools because of the absence of public schools. After his father’s death in 1849, Peter took over the barber shop for a short time. Later that same year black schools were authorized by the Ohio legislature. This was largely due to the efforts of Peter’s uncle, John Gaines. Peter became the first teacher in the black school. He was fired in 1853 by the white Board of Education for publicly praising Thomas Paine.

During the next four years, Peter was an abolitionist publisher, editor, writer, and speaker. He participated in the Ohio Conventions of Colored Men, and edited and published his own weekly newspaper. He was appointed secretary of the 1853 National Convention of Colored Men, by Frederick Douglass. In 1854 he married Francis Ann Williams. In 1857 he was rehired by the black trustees of the colored schools and made principal of the Western District School in Cincinnati.

He became principal of Gaines High School in 1866 and held that post until 1886, when he was fired on political grounds.^[1] He left Cincinnati in 1887 to serve as principal of the Alabama State normal and Industrial School, and in 1888 went to St. Louis where he taught at the segregated Sumner High School for twenty years.^[2]

[edit] References

Herz, Walter. 1999. “Peter H. Clark”. Unitarian Universalist Historical Society (UUHS).

[edit] Further reading

Peter H. Clark, “Socialism: The Remedy for the Evils of Society” (1877), teaching materials, University of Washington
Philip S. Foner, American Socialism and Black Americans: From the Age of Jackson to World War II, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jul., 1978), pp. 253-257
J. Reuben Sheeler, The Struggle of the Negro in Ohio for Freedom, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Apr., 1946), pp. 208-226
Peter H. Clark, Black Brigade of Cincinnati: Being a Report of Its Labors and a Muster-Roll of Its Members etc. (1864), Ohio Historical Society - the Black Brigade of Cincinnati was first formal organization of Northern colored people for military purposes in the Civil War, established on September 2, 1862