Peter H. Clark
| Peter H. Clark | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
March 29, 1829 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1925 (aged 96) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Abolitionist, publisher, editor, writer, orator, civil rights activist |
| Political party | Socialist Labor Party of America |
Peter Humphries Clark (March 29, 1829 – June 21, 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. Clark is also remembered as the first African-American socialist in the United States, running for Congress in 1878 under the banner of the Socialist Labor Party of America.
Peter Humphries Clark was born March 29, 1829 in Cincinnati, 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.
Later in his life he received a masters (A.M.) degree from Wilberforce University.
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 in Syracuse, New York, by Frederick Douglass, where he drafted a constitution of the National Equal Rights League. In 1854 he married Francis Ann Williams.
In 1855 he formed the journal, Herald of Freedom, which quickly failed. He then became editor of a Free-soil Party journal published in Newport, Kentucky owned by William S. Bailey. In 1856 he was on the staff of Frederick Douglass' Paper. In 1857 he was rehired by the black trustees of the colored schools and made principal of the Western District School in Cincinnati.
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