The Life & Times of Joseph E. Clark: From Slavery to Town Father, by Olga Fenton Mitchell and Gloria Fenton Magbie. Published in 2003, 112 pages.
This is the biography of the man who founded the oldest incorporated black municipality in the United States of America. It is definitely a niche book and topic, one that interests me on a purely personal level. I almost declined to review it because I know there is no universal appeal attached to it. However, it matters to me, so I decided it was worth reviewing.
Joseph Clark was born into slavery in the year 1859. He was the son of slaves, but his father William was a man of keen sense and a deep desire to see his children be as successful as life would allow. So after the Civil War ended and his family was freed, he moved them to East Tennessee (a Union friendly southern area) and began working in earnest to see to it that his children were educated. Always a man of hard work and frugality, the authors of the book recount that 1870 census records list William Clark as a drayman with a net worth of $400, a financial feat rarely accomplished by the newly freed African descended slaves!
With this as his legacy, Joe Clark grew up and stepped into the part of his story that I was mostly already familiar with. The founding of Eatonville was a momentous and ground breaking event in the South. Joe Clark’s dream of a town founded, inhabited and most importantly governed by freed black men became a reality in 1887:
Covering every aspect of Joseph Clark’s life including the tragedies and hardships as well as his victories, The Life & Times of Joseph E. Clark filled in some of the blanks of his history that I was unaware of. Knowing much of the information beforehand didn’t make the book any less enjoyable to me.
This was a good little book. It covered a lot of ground in a very succinct and matter of fact way. It eschewed political commentary and stuck to the facts, and was well done overall. I am glad I stumbled on it while doing some research in our local library branch.
Thanks for this review. I want to read this book. For homeschooling, this is the type of history book I like to use…real personal history, plainly told. It’s now on my to-buy list if it ever comes out on Kindle.
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Ok I want to read this one too.
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Could this be part of reading for FL history class? Or atleast on a list of additional books for further reading.
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Yes, Crystal. I thought you might, ☺
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@stmichaelkozaki
It’s a great book for exploring untilled ground in American history, and tells a story not often told.
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Are you already covering the Seminole Wars, and their influence on the Emancipation Proclamation?
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@ TPC:
I have some information on the intersection between the Black Seminoles, the second Seminole war and the Emancipation Proclamation. Still teasing some of that out.
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