TEACHING FOR CHANGE

An eloquent tribute to the character and achievements of a decidedly undersung mover and shaker of the Civil Rights Movement.

“Born poor. Born Black. Born a girl.” Septima Clark faced plenty of obstacles, but having learned peace from her daddy and strength from her mama, “Septima could always find a way.” Growing up to become a teacher, she established a network of “citizenship schools” that by 1969 had helped over 700,000 Black students pass discriminatory voter registration tests and learn how to be community leaders and activists. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called her the Mother of the Movement and asked her to accompany him to Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. She went on battling discrimination of every sort, the authors conclude, even after the male leaders of the movement forced her to retire in 1970. “Mama Seppie” remains an icon, “the embodiment of Black Girl (Woman) Magic.” Lyrics from the freedom song “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” appear throughout. In stately oil paintings, Albano-Payton depicts Clark from grave child to formidable, gray-haired fighter—in schoolrooms, behind prison bars, on the march, and generally surrounded by equally serious, brown-skinned pupils and supporters of all ages. The work ends with notes from both co-authors; Clark-Rhines, Septima Clark’s granddaughter, pays tribute to her grandmother’s “perseverance, tenacity, strength, and…attitude of service for her people.”

Tardy, significant recognition.