Newspapers reported her with the "colored" Order of the Eastern Star, Heroines of Jericho, JSY Club, and One More Effort Club. As an AME minister's wife, she was active in her church and community. The fact that she was chosen to be one of the graduation speakers attests to her high moral character and leadership. Undoubtedly her high school years had many challenges and moments of hostility, but Susan persevered and graduated with honors in 1871- the first Black graduate of Muscatine High School, then at West Third and Iowa. It had taken an entire school year, but Susan was now able to attend the public schools, and enrolled at the high school that fall. Then, in late spring, the Iowa Supreme Court issued the historic ruling in Susan's favor. They won their case, but the school board appealed. On October 10, 1867, Susan and her father sued in district court for her to have the right to attend the public school. In September 1867, she again tried to enroll at School No. Two years later, after finishing the "African school" held at the African Methodist Episcopal Church nearly a mile from her home, Susan wanted to continue her education. 2- two blocks away- for two days before the school board "resolved that no negroes should attend the public schools." The Muscatine Journal editorialized that this was a gross injustice since the Clarks were paying taxes for public schools, but the decision stood. In September 1865 "when the colored people declined renting their church for school purposes," Susan and her siblings attended their neighborhood Public School No. She had an older sister, Rebecca Clark Appleton, and a younger brother, Alexander Jr. Susan grew up at the corner of West Third and Chestnut Streets (now the Clark House parking garage), the second daughter of Alexander G. Susan's case was cited in that landmark decision. Segregated schools were the norm in many states until the 1954 U.S. Her suit, decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1868, gave all Iowa children the right to attend public school regardless of race, religion, nationality, or any other distinction. Clark was just thirteen years old when she became the first Black student in the United States to integrate a public school through a court order. Who was Susan Clark? When the Muscatine school board renamed the combined middle schools for her in 2019, many residents said they had never heard of her.
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