Alexander Clark

Alexander Clark

Alexander G. Clark (February 25, 1826 – June 3, 1891) was an African-American businessman and activist who served as United States Ambassador to Liberia in 1890-1891, where he died in office. Clark is notable for suing in 1867 to gain admission for his daughter to attend a local public school in Muscatine, Iowa. The case achieved a constitutional ruling for integration from the Iowa state supreme court in 1868, 86 years before the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). He was a prominent leader in winning a state constitutional amendment that gained the right for African Americans in Iowa to vote (1868). Active in church, freemasonry, and the Republican Party, he became known for his speaking skills and was nicknamed "the Colored Orator of the West." He earned a law degree and became co-owner and editor of The Conservator in Chicago. His body was returned from Liberia in 1892 and buried in Muscatine, where his house has been preserved.

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