Black-History.com is in its founding phase. Join the founding subscriber list →
Classroom · Grades 6–12

Septima Clark

Septima Clark understood literacy as political power, and her Citizenship Schools showed that ordinary community members could teach one another to claim the vote that Jim Crow laws were designed to deny.

Lesson at a Glance

Grades
Grades 6–12
Time
One class period (20–40 minutes)
Standards
NCSS Themes 10 (Civic Ideals and Practices) and 5 (Individuals, Groups, and Institutions); C3 D2.Civ.10, D2.Civ.14, D2.His.3
Reading
Septima Clark (profile)

Big Idea

Septima Clark understood literacy as political power, and her Citizenship Schools showed that ordinary community members could teach one another to claim the vote that Jim Crow laws were designed to deny.

Before Class

Students read the profile of Septima Clark, including the Key Dates and Sources.

Discussion Questions

  1. Why were reading, filling out forms, and knowing the state constitution so closely tied to the right to vote in the Jim Crow South?
  2. Why did the Citizenship Schools use local teachers, such as a beautician, rather than trained professionals? What were the strengths of that choice?
  3. Clark was fired in 1956 for refusing to give up her NAACP membership. What does the law that cost her job reveal about how segregationists fought the movement?
  4. Clark criticized the male leadership of the SCLC. Why might women’s organizing work have received less recognition than speeches and marches?
  5. What might a Citizenship School look like in your own community today, and what would it need to teach?

Activity

Recreate a Citizenship School lesson. Give students a sample literacy test or constitutional passage of the kind registrars used, then ask them to explain it in plain language to a partner who plays a first-time voter. Afterward, read the profile’s description of the first class on Johns Island in January 1957 and discuss why lessons were built around practical tasks such as money orders and forms. Close with the Fifteenth Amendment: students write two sentences on the gap between the amendment’s promise and what Clark’s students faced. (30–40 minutes.)

Primary Sources

Cite this page
MLA
“Classroom lesson: Septima Clark.” Black-History.com, 30 Sept. 2026, https://black-history.com/classroom/septima-clark/.
APA
Black-History.com Editors. (2026, September 30). Classroom lesson: Septima Clark. Black-History.com. https://black-history.com/classroom/septima-clark/
Chicago
Black-History.com Editors. “Classroom lesson: Septima Clark.” Black-History.com. September 30, 2026. https://black-history.com/classroom/septima-clark/.
Editorial Note

By the Black-History.com editors. Last reviewed 30 September 2026. To suggest a primary source or a correction, write to editors@black-history.com or use our corrections form.

← All lessons  ·  Read the profile →