Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Clark, Alexander |
Occupation |
Barber, entrepreneur, orator, lawyer, newspaper editor, civil rights advocate. Invested in real estate, helped organize Muscatine's African Methodist Episcopal Church, campaigned for civil rights. Desegregated Muscatine schools. 1882 bought the Chicago Conservator as a platform for equal rights struggle. 1890 appointed US Minister to Liberia by President Benjamin Harrison. Highest presidential appointment ever offered to a black man at that time. |
Notes |
See Biographical Dictionary of Iowa (2008) for more |
Born |
1826 |
Birthplace |
Pennsylvania |
Deceased |
1891 |
Deceased where |
Liberia, Africa |
Mother |
Rebecca Darnes, emancipated slave |
Father |
John Clark, emancipated slave |
Spouse |
Catherine Griffin of Iowa City |
Children |
Rebecca, Susan, and Alexander Jr. |
Education |
Susan Clark graduated from Muscatine High Shcool in 1871; Alexander Jr. also., then he became the first black grad of the State University of Iowa's law school. Alexander Clark Sr. was the second. |
Places of residence |
1841 settled in Muscatine, Iowa where he lived for 42 years. |
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