Portrait from The Afro-American Press and Its Editors. Springfield, MA: Willey & Co., 1891.
Peter H. Clark (1829-1925) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, during an era of anti-black violence, which led to the emigration of more than 1,000 African Americans from that city to Canada. Clark held a variety of jobs, ranging from barber to journalist, but established himself as a leader within the black community, both as an educator and as a renowned orator on the antislavery lecture circuit. Clarkâs involvement in the colored convention movement began in 1849 when he accompanied his uncle to an Ohio state convention. Three years later, Clark was a delegate to the state convention, serving on the committees for emigration and education.
An experienced conventioneer by 1864, Clark was elected to several administrative committees at the Syracuse convention. By then, he had abandoned the idea of black emigration in favor of demanding full citizenship rights in the United States. In 1865, black Ohioans established the Ohio State Auxiliary Equal Rights League, electing Clark as its president.
Following the Civil War, Clark returned to teaching. In 1876, he joined the Workingmen's Party, a socialist political organization. As his politics became more radical and he increasingly aligned himself with white labor groups, Clark fell out of favor with the black community. .