Background
Peter Humphries Clark was born March 29, 1829 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Peter Humphries Clark was born March 29, 1829 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Early years
After his father’s death in 1849, Peter took over the barber shop for a short time. Later that same year black schools were authorized by the Ohio legislature. Peter became the first teacher in the black school.
He was fired in 1853 by the white Board of Education for publicly praising Thomas Paine.
During the next four years, Peter was an abolitionist publisher, editor, writer, and speaker. He participated in the Ohio Conventions of Colored Men, and edited and published his own weekly newspaper.
He was appointed secretary of the 1853 National Convention of Colored Men, by Frederick Douglass. In 1857 he was rehired by the black trustees of the colored schools and made principal of the Western District School in Cincinnati.
He became principal of Gaines High School in 1866 and held that post until 1886, when he was fired on political grounds.
He left Cincinnati in 1887 to serve as principal of the Alabama State normal and Industrial School, and in 1888 went to Saint Louis where he taught at the segregated Sumner High School for twenty years. He ran in Ohio"s 1st congressional district, garnering 275 votes, or 1.09%. Death and legacy
Clark died on June 21, 1925.
Clark is also remembered as the first African-American socialist in the United States, running for Congress in 1878 under the banner of the Socialist Labor Party of America. Political activity
In 1878 he ran for congress on the Socialistic Labor Party ticket, one of the partys first congressional candidates.