[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1037-E1038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING ROBERT GEORGE CLARK, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 1, 2023

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
trailblazer, the Honorable Robert George Clark, Jr. He has shown what 
can be done through hard work, dedication, and a strong desire for 
change.
  Robert George Clark, Jr. was elected to the Mississippi House of 
Representatives in 1967. He was the first African American elected to 
the Mississippi State Legislature since the Reconstruction era and 
remained in office until 2003.
  Clark was born on October 3, 1928 to the Late Mr. Robert and Mrs. 
Julia Anne Clark of Ebenezer, Mississippi, the youngest of three 
children. He attended Holmes County Training School in Durant, 
Mississippi, and later received his B.A. from Jackson State University

[[Page E1038]]

in 1952. In 1959, he earned a Master's Degree in Administration and 
Educational Services from Michigan State University. In 1979, while in 
the Mississippi State Legislature, Clark served as a teaching fellow at 
the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
  After earning his B.A. degree, Clark worked as a teacher in Holmes 
County. His first experience in politics was running for and winning an 
elected board position Holmes County Community Action Program (CAP) in 
1966. In 1967, he agreed to run for state legislator on Holmes County's 
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) ticket. He won the election 
and became the first black person elected to the Mississippi House of 
Representatives since Reconstruction.
  Clark's election signaled the emergence of black electoral politics 
in Mississippi. As late as 1964, only ten black people were registered 
to vote in Holmes County, though the county was roughly 75 percent 
African American. By 1967, the black community of Holmes County built 
one of the strongest and most sophisticated political organizations in 
the state.
  Ten years after he was first elected, Clark became the first black 
committee chairman in the Mississippi House of Representatives when he 
was named to head the Education Committee. During his term as chair, 
the legislature passed the 1982 Education Reform Act and the 1984 
Vocational Education Reform Act. The 1982 act significantly reformed 
Mississippi's educational system, helping to modernize school 
classrooms and other physical facilities, replace worn-out textbooks 
and purchased replacement school buses.
  In January 1992, Clark was elected as Speaker Pro Tempore, serving in 
that post until 2000. When he retired from the Mississippi House of 
Representatives in December 2003, he was the longest-serving member in 
continuous House service. I stand on the shoulders of men like him as I 
am encouraged to continue fighting to make Mississippi a better place 
for all of its citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 
Honorable Robert George Clark, Jr. for his dedication and years of 
service to the state of Mississippi.

                          ____________________