Clark Funeral Home, Roanoke, AL - An Alabama Historic Site
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  • ABOUT
    • The Life & Legacy Of Wilkie Clark
    • The Life & Legacy Of Mrs. Hattie Lee Peters Clark
    • CONTACT
  • DOCUMENT REPOSITORY & HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS
    • GENERAL INFORMATION >
      • 1939 - August 11, 1939: Diploma from Alabama A & M
      • First Mention Of Wilkie Clark In A Newspaper
      • 1941 - Registration For The Draft
      • 1941- 1945 - Military Service
      • 1948: Mr. & Mrs. Clark Wed In Anniston
      • 1949: Cobb Avenue High School Veterans Class
      • 1951: August 10, 1951-Bachelor Of Science Degree in Elementary Education
      • 1951: Voting
      • 1973: Tommy L. Wilkes Controversy
      • 1976: The Clark's Venture Into Politics
      • 1978 - February 28,1978 - Councilman George Poole
      • Emancipation
      • 1981 - "Y-A-W-N" Edgar Stevenson IRES Black Community
      • 1981 - July 18 - The Clark's Incorporate Clark Funeral Home
      • 1988-8-9 [THE ANNISTON STAR]-Bush Scores With Speech
      • Hear Him Speak
      • February 23, 1989 - A Special Visitor The Day Mama Died
      • Anniston Star Article On Mama's Passing
    • EDUCATION >
      • EDUCATION: Before-Desegregation
      • EDUCATION: After Desegregation >
        • 2005-December: Rosella Knight Parker Story
      • DR. EFFIE JEAN FIELDS' RESEARCH
    • NAACP PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES
    • POLICING
    • POLITICS
    • CHURCH/RELIGIOUS
    • RECREATION >
      • 1989, JUNE: SUMMER CAMP
    • VOTING RIGHTS >
      • The 1980s: A Decade Of Voting Rights Activism
      • 1983: Working To Implement Deputy Voter Registrars
      • 1984 - NAACP Supports Roanoke Suit
    • MRS. HATTIE P. CLARK: A Prolific Letter Writer
    • WILKIE CLARK'S DEATH
    • The Wilkie Clark Memorial Foundation
  • LIFE AFTER DEATH
  • PAY RESPECTS
  • PHOTO GALLERY
  • VIRTUAL TOURS
  • UPDATES
  • SHOP
  • New Page

Clark Funeral Home, Roanoke, Alabama

A Guided Digital Tour Of The Lives, Legacies and Works Of Wilkie And Hattie Lee (Peters) Clark as presented by their offspring:  their only daughter, Mrs. Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson; grandson, Wilkie S. Frieson, and Granddaughter, Je'Lynn M. Frieson.
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NAACP PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES


By Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson

Picture
For at least 35 years (and perhaps longer) Wilkie Clark proudly served as President of Randolph County's Branch #5053, of the NAACP.    From my observations, he developed an admirable and rigorous work ethic in his effort to achieve the goals of this national organization.    Everywhere he went he was the strongest of advocates, and the face of the NAACP.  He never shirked that responsibility or tried to shy away from it, no matter how intense an issue he was dealing with.  Often times, his associates would "jump ship" and leave him all alone, but he was NEVER deterred.   

A lot of his effort was directed at staging events, and programs which served to raise awareness in the black community, and promote the objectives of the organization.   He frequently staged memorial exercises centered around black history, and brought in professional speakers -- intimately familiar with the civil rights movement -- who could enlighten the community about black advancement.   He sought to lift that "veil of ignorance" from the faces of black citizens, in hopes that they would become more willing to join the growing national movement to advance themselves in every area of life.

Based on Newspaper accounts and various announcements that appear in Roanoke's local newspaper, as well as neighboring Newspapers (i.e. The Anniston Star), there is an abundance of evidence that as far back as 1955, the Clark's were actively engaged in advancing the cause of Black Civil and Human Rights.  Where available, We have uploaded documents that reflect the Clark's activism.   

What we recall very well is that Wilkie Clark placed tremendous value on the NAACP as the ideal organization -- the vehicle -- for liberation, because it was the only National Organization that existed to address the racial biases witnessed in every area of Negro life in America.   The NAACP had painstakingly developed programs for its leaders to follow to address issues ranging from Education, Employment, Housing, Racial separation and isolation, lynching, Voter Disenfranchisement, and many others.  The NAACP's program of attack was strictly based on Negroes understanding the specific Laws in operation, and developing an astute unequaled ability to use those laws as the weapon -- the basis upon which they could set themselves free.   

Below is a gallery of some of his favorite guest speakers.  It is obvious that he was partial to Negro Civil Rights Lawyers, and NAACP National Leaders ...
Efforts to obtain photographs will continue, however, those shown in this photo gallery are photos of SOME -- not all of the speakers he routinely engaged.    Because we do not have photos of all the speakers who came to Roanoke to address black citizens here, a list follows:  

Mrs. Ruby Hurley, NAACP Administrator & Southeast Regional Director, New York City
Dr. Charles Gomillion, Renowned Educator & Activist, Tuskegee, AL
Earl T. Shinhoster, (Southeast Regional Director, NAACP), Atlanta, GA
Grover Smith, Jr. (former Alabama State Field Director, NAACP), Tuskegee, Alabama/Birmingham, AL
Mrs. Della Bryant (Alabama State Youth Director, NAACP), Montgomery, AL
Birmingham Civil Rights Attorney Arthur David Shores, Birmingham, AL
Birmingham Civil Rights Attorney Orzell Billingsley, Birmingham, AL
Bessemer Civil Rights Attorney David Hood, Bessemer, AL
Justice Oscar W. Adams, Birmingham, AL
Reverend Dr. J. H. Flakes, Jr., Columbus, GA
SCLC State Vice President Reverend John S. Nettles, Anniston, AL
Roanoke Native Reverend William R. Terry, Roanoke, AL (Not Pictured)
Roanoke Native, Dr. Alvin Thornton, Howard University Provost, Upper Marboro, MD
Dr. Nimrod Q . Reynolds, Pastor, 17th Street Baptist Church, Anniston, Alabama


1955-03-17-_the_roanoke_leader_naacp_to_have_membership_meet.jpg
File Size: 206 kb
File Type: jpg
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1951-3-29-charles_gomillion_to_speak.jpg
File Size: 260 kb
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1955-5-19-The_Roanoke_Leader_NAACP_Annual_Freedom_Day.jpg
File Size: 50 kb
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1955-8-11-The_Roanoke_Leader_NAACP_Womens_Day_Program.jpg
File Size: 271 kb
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1955-9-15-[the_leader]_naacp_mens_day_program_to_be_held_at_rcts.jpg
File Size: 148 kb
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1955-10-13-[the_leader]-local_colored_news_reports_on_robert_rowe_named_naacp_man_of_the_year.jpg
File Size: 341 kb
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1955-11-3-The_Roanke_Leader_NAACP_Meeting_Announced.jpg
File Size: 54 kb
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1955-11-24-The_Roanoke_Leader_NAACP_New_Nominating_Committee_Meeting_.jpg
File Size: 107 kb
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PictureJustice Oscar W. Adams
In 1980, The Clarks pulled out all the stops in order to make plans to host Alabama's first black State Supreme Court Justice, Oscar Adams, for it's January 1, 1981 Emancipation Proclamation Program.

Alabama's Republican Governor Fob James had appointed the State's first black Supreme Court Justice, and everybody was interested to hear what he had to say.   That year, we were even able to bring out the Editor Of The Randolph Leader, John B. Stevenson, himself.  If available, we will locate and post Stevenson's write-up that appeared in the Roanoke Leader the week after Justice Adams spoke in Roanoke.

1980_12_24_The_Anniston_Star_NAACP_To_Host_Oscar_Adams.pdf
File Size: 192 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


1980-12-24-The_Anniston_Star_Oscar_Adams.jpg
File Size: 147 kb
File Type: jpg
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Another NAACP Emancipation Proclamation Observance

CLARK HISTORIC SITE, Roanoke, alabama  36274

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Copyright © April 30, 2020
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • The Life & Legacy Of Wilkie Clark
    • The Life & Legacy Of Mrs. Hattie Lee Peters Clark
    • CONTACT
  • DOCUMENT REPOSITORY & HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS
    • GENERAL INFORMATION >
      • 1939 - August 11, 1939: Diploma from Alabama A & M
      • First Mention Of Wilkie Clark In A Newspaper
      • 1941 - Registration For The Draft
      • 1941- 1945 - Military Service
      • 1948: Mr. & Mrs. Clark Wed In Anniston
      • 1949: Cobb Avenue High School Veterans Class
      • 1951: August 10, 1951-Bachelor Of Science Degree in Elementary Education
      • 1951: Voting
      • 1973: Tommy L. Wilkes Controversy
      • 1976: The Clark's Venture Into Politics
      • 1978 - February 28,1978 - Councilman George Poole
      • Emancipation
      • 1981 - "Y-A-W-N" Edgar Stevenson IRES Black Community
      • 1981 - July 18 - The Clark's Incorporate Clark Funeral Home
      • 1988-8-9 [THE ANNISTON STAR]-Bush Scores With Speech
      • Hear Him Speak
      • February 23, 1989 - A Special Visitor The Day Mama Died
      • Anniston Star Article On Mama's Passing
    • EDUCATION >
      • EDUCATION: Before-Desegregation
      • EDUCATION: After Desegregation >
        • 2005-December: Rosella Knight Parker Story
      • DR. EFFIE JEAN FIELDS' RESEARCH
    • NAACP PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES
    • POLICING
    • POLITICS
    • CHURCH/RELIGIOUS
    • RECREATION >
      • 1989, JUNE: SUMMER CAMP
    • VOTING RIGHTS >
      • The 1980s: A Decade Of Voting Rights Activism
      • 1983: Working To Implement Deputy Voter Registrars
      • 1984 - NAACP Supports Roanoke Suit
    • MRS. HATTIE P. CLARK: A Prolific Letter Writer
    • WILKIE CLARK'S DEATH
    • The Wilkie Clark Memorial Foundation
  • LIFE AFTER DEATH
  • PAY RESPECTS
  • PHOTO GALLERY
  • VIRTUAL TOURS
  • UPDATES
  • SHOP
  • New Page