[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 157 (Friday, September 11, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                      IN HONOR OF ANNA MAC CLARKE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ANDY BARR

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 11, 2020

  Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Ms. Anna Mac Clarke. 
Ms. Clarke was a native of Anderson County, Kentucky and worked to 
desegregate our nation's armed forces during WWII. Today she is honored 
with the renaming of her hometown Main Street in her honor.
  Ms. Clarke grew up in Anderson County and was a 1937 graduate of 
Lawrenceburg High School. She then furthered her education at Kentucky 
State College where she participated in athletics, wrote for the school 
newspaper, and joined Delta Sigma Theta sorority before graduating with 
a bachelor's degree in sociology and economics in 1941. Following the 
Attack on Pearl Harbor, Ms. Clarke decided to join the all-female 
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).
  Upon completion of WAAC officer training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 
Third Officer Anna Mac Clarke became the first African-American WAAC 
assigned to a command that was otherwise an all-white unit. Ms. Clarke 
went on to lead a unit of 144 African-American women in service at 
Wakeman General Hospital at Camp Atterbury, Indiana before also serving 
at the WAAC Headquarters in Washington, D.C. After the WAAC auxiliary 
units became a part of the regular army, Ms. Clarke let the first 
Women's Army Corps (WAC) unit onto base at Douglas Army Air Field in 
Arizona. When she and her unit first arrived, the base was segregated. 
However, Ms. Clarke stood against this injustice, refused to sit in the 
colored section, and raised this issue with commanding officers. In 
response, the commanding officer issued the following order, ``Educate 
properly all enlisted and civilian personnel in your respective 
departments to accept any colored WACs assigned as you would any white 
man or woman in the Army of the United States. Every consideration, 
respect, courtesy, and toleration will be afforded every colored WAC. 
No discrimination will be condoned.''
  Ms. Anna Mac Clarke sadly passed away on April 19, 1944 at the age of 
24 following complications from surgery. Yet, her steadfast 
contributions to the desegregation of our armed forces serve as an 
extraordinary example of courage and patriotism in service to one's 
country. It is my honor to recognize Ms. Clarke, as a street is renamed 
today in her honor in her hometown of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. I am 
forever grateful for brave Americans like Anna Mac Clarke.

                          ____________________