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(January 1, 1915 - July 16,
1998), born John Henry
Clark, was a Pan-Africanist
American writer, historian,
professor, and a pioneer in
the creation of Africana
studies and professional
institutions in academia
starting in the late 1960s.
He was Professor of African
World History and in 1969
founding chairman of the
Department of Black and
Puerto Rican Studies at
Hunter College of the City
University of New York. He
also was the Carter G.
Woodson Distinguished
Visiting Professor of African
History at Cornell University’
s Africana Studies and
Research Center. In 1968
along with the Black Caucus
of the African Studies
Association, Clarke founded
the African Heritage Studies
Association.
A self-educated intellectual,
Clarke documented the
histories and contributions
of African peoples in Africa
and the diaspora, creating
an Afrocentric perspective.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete
Asante listed Dr. John
Henrik Clarke on his list of
100 Greatest African
Americans.
Born as the eldest child 1
January 1915 in Union
Springs, Alabama to
sharecroppers John
(Doctor) and Willie Ella
(Mays) Clark, John Henry
Clark was encouraged to
learn. While his father
hoped he would work his
own land one day, the boy
found different aspirations.
He renamed himself John
Henrik (after rebel
playwright Henrik Ibsen)
and adding an "e" to his
surname Clarke, as a
symbol. His curiosity about
his people was aroused as
a boy and he pursued
knowledge all his life.
Clarke left the South in 1933
by freight train and went to
Harlem, New York, for a life
of scholarship and activism.
Harlem was intellectually
rich due to the concentration
of people attracted from
across the country with the
Great Migration from the
South and the rise of the
Harlem Renaissance.
Clarke developed his skills
as a writer and lecturer
through social movements
of the Great Depression
years. He joined study
circles like the Harlem
History Club and the Harlem
Writers' Workshop. He
studied history and world
literature at New York
University, at Columbia
University, and at the
League for Professional
Writers.
1998), born John Henry
Clark, was a Pan-Africanist
American writer, historian,
professor, and a pioneer in
the creation of Africana
studies and professional
institutions in academia
starting in the late 1960s.
He was Professor of African
World History and in 1969
founding chairman of the
Department of Black and
Puerto Rican Studies at
Hunter College of the City
University of New York. He
also was the Carter G.
Woodson Distinguished
Visiting Professor of African
History at Cornell University’
s Africana Studies and
Research Center. In 1968
along with the Black Caucus
of the African Studies
Association, Clarke founded
the African Heritage Studies
Association.
A self-educated intellectual,
Clarke documented the
histories and contributions
of African peoples in Africa
and the diaspora, creating
an Afrocentric perspective.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete
Asante listed Dr. John
Henrik Clarke on his list of
100 Greatest African
Americans.
Born as the eldest child 1
January 1915 in Union
Springs, Alabama to
sharecroppers John
(Doctor) and Willie Ella
(Mays) Clark, John Henry
Clark was encouraged to
learn. While his father
hoped he would work his
own land one day, the boy
found different aspirations.
He renamed himself John
Henrik (after rebel
playwright Henrik Ibsen)
and adding an "e" to his
surname Clarke, as a
symbol. His curiosity about
his people was aroused as
a boy and he pursued
knowledge all his life.
Clarke left the South in 1933
by freight train and went to
Harlem, New York, for a life
of scholarship and activism.
Harlem was intellectually
rich due to the concentration
of people attracted from
across the country with the
Great Migration from the
South and the rise of the
Harlem Renaissance.
Clarke developed his skills
as a writer and lecturer
through social movements
of the Great Depression
years. He joined study
circles like the Harlem
History Club and the Harlem
Writers' Workshop. He
studied history and world
literature at New York
University, at Columbia
University, and at the
League for Professional
Writers.