American Innovation $1 coin - South Carolina

Nearly 150 years back, the country was torn asunder by a fierce conflict, the Civil War. After four years of war, the Reconstruction era made possible the entry of African-Americans into positions of power. But within a decade, the southern states went back to their old stand on slavery. After a 100 years, in the 1960's the Civil Rights movement came to a head and the ‘Civil Rights Act’ and the ‘Voting Act’ were passed. It was a culmination of the work of many stalwarts of the African-American community; Septima Poinsette Clark chief among them.

In this post, we are looking at Clark’s contributions to the movement and the design of the American Innovation $1 coin from South Carolina that honors her achievements and contributions.

Septima Poinsette Clark

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks are some of the well known leaders of the Civil Rights movement. Septima Poinsette Clark was mostly under appreciated, but that didn’t stop her from making a better life possible for thousands of African-Americans.

Septima Clark, was a former public school teacher, who developed an innovative citizenship training program for thousands of African-Americans. In the southern states, there were legislations that required voters to be literate and to be able to interpret portions of the U.S. constitution. This was a tactic used by politicians then to disenfranchise black voters. To break this stalemate, Clark devised the ‘Citizenship schools’ that taught African-Americans not only to read and write but also their Citizenship rights. They were run primarily in back rooms of shops to elude racists from disturbing the process. Literacy rates among the African-American community soared and also a sense of pride in their history.

The ‘Citizenship schools’ were helpful in the propagation of literacy through non-violence which was one of the primary goals of the ‘Civil Rights movement’ as envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That’s probably why King called Clark as ‘The Mother of the Movement’.

Coin design

The American Innovation $1 coin from South Carolina recognizes Septima Poinsette Clark’s role in the Civil Rights Movement. The design depicts Ms. Clark marching with three young African American students who carry books and an American flag, representing that education and literacy among oppressed people are necessary for empowerment and enjoyment of civil rights. Inscriptions are "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," "SEPTIMA CLARK," and "SOUTH CAROLINA." The common obverse design by Justin Kunz, shows obverse elements common across every dollar in the series regardless of their year of issue. They include a representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile along with inscriptions "IN GOD WE TRUST" and "$1."