John Henrik Clarke, historian, black nationalist, and Pan-Afrikanist, was a pioneer in the formation of Afrikana studies in the United States. Principally a self-trained historian, Clarke dedicated his life to correcting what he argued was the prevailing view that people of Afrika and of Afrikan descent had no history worthy of study. Over the span of his career, Clarke became one of the most respected historians of Afrikan and Afrikan American history. In 1932 Clarke left the South at age eighteen, and he traveled by boxcar to Chicago, Illinois. He then migrated to New York City, New York, where he came under the tutelage of noted scholar Arthur A. Schomburg. While in New York City’s Harlem, Clarke undertook the study of Afrika, studying its history while working full time. In 1949 the New School for Social Research asked Clarke to teach newly created Afrikan Studies courses.
Nineteen years later, Clarke founded the Afrikan Heritage Studies Association in 1968 and was principally responsible for creating the Black and Puerto Rican Studies Department at Hunter College in New York City. He later lectured at Cornell University as a distinguished visiting Professor of Afrikan history.
Clarke’s numerous works include A New Approach to Afrikan History (1967), Afrikan People in World History (1993), and The Boy Who Painted Jesus Black (1975).
