Copyright © 2009 National Black Young Men & Women of America! Inc. All rights reserved. |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
He was one of the
"self-educated intellectuals"
who arose in
African-American life and he
found mentors, such as
scholar Arthur Schomburg,
from his circles in Harlem.
At the age of 78 Clarke
earned a doctorate from
non-accredited Pacific
Western University in Los
Angeles.
Achieving public
prominence during the
years of Black Power,
Clarke was an outspoken
advocate for black studies,
or study of the
African-American
experience and the place of
Africans in world history. He
challenged traditional
academic history as an
outsider, and helped shift
the way African history was
studied and taught. Clarke
was "a scholar devoted to
redressing what he saw as
a systematic and racist
suppression and distortion
of African history by
traditional scholars." When
some of the scholarship he
championed was
dismissed by traditional
historians, Clarke accused
them of their own biases in
promoting Eurocentric
views. While some of his
views were controversial,
Clarke did create a
framework for studies of the
history of Africa and the
diaspora of its peoples.
He devoted himself to
placing people of African
ancestry 'on the map of
human geography'." He was
often quoted saying that
"History is not everything,
but it is a starting point.
History is a clock that
people use to tell their
political and cultural time of
day. It is a compass they
use to find themselves on
the map of human
geography. It tells them
where they are, but more
importantly, what they must
be.
In addition to his teaching
career at Hunter College
and Cornell University,
Clarke was active in
creating professional
associations to support the
study of black culture. He
was a founder and first
president of the African
Heritage Studies
Association, which
supported scholars in areas
of history, culture, literature
and the arts. He was a
founding member of other
organizations to recognize
and support work in black
culture: the Black Academy
of Arts and Letters and the
African-American Scholars'
Council.
"self-educated intellectuals"
who arose in
African-American life and he
found mentors, such as
scholar Arthur Schomburg,
from his circles in Harlem.
At the age of 78 Clarke
earned a doctorate from
non-accredited Pacific
Western University in Los
Angeles.
Achieving public
prominence during the
years of Black Power,
Clarke was an outspoken
advocate for black studies,
or study of the
African-American
experience and the place of
Africans in world history. He
challenged traditional
academic history as an
outsider, and helped shift
the way African history was
studied and taught. Clarke
was "a scholar devoted to
redressing what he saw as
a systematic and racist
suppression and distortion
of African history by
traditional scholars." When
some of the scholarship he
championed was
dismissed by traditional
historians, Clarke accused
them of their own biases in
promoting Eurocentric
views. While some of his
views were controversial,
Clarke did create a
framework for studies of the
history of Africa and the
diaspora of its peoples.
He devoted himself to
placing people of African
ancestry 'on the map of
human geography'." He was
often quoted saying that
"History is not everything,
but it is a starting point.
History is a clock that
people use to tell their
political and cultural time of
day. It is a compass they
use to find themselves on
the map of human
geography. It tells them
where they are, but more
importantly, what they must
be.
In addition to his teaching
career at Hunter College
and Cornell University,
Clarke was active in
creating professional
associations to support the
study of black culture. He
was a founder and first
president of the African
Heritage Studies
Association, which
supported scholars in areas
of history, culture, literature
and the arts. He was a
founding member of other
organizations to recognize
and support work in black
culture: the Black Academy
of Arts and Letters and the
African-American Scholars'
Council.