Black History Fact

Clara Howard was raised in Atlanta, GA and graduated as valedictorian from Spelman Seminary in 1887. She taught school in Atlanta until 1897 when she joined the Women’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. She moved to Lukunga in the Congo for the next five years where she taught school, ran an orphanage and even operated a printing office. She returned to Spelman due to health reasons and then left for Panama for another short time of service on the field. She was hired by Spelman to serve as the seminary’s matron overseeing the young women at the school.

The president of Spelman, Lucy Hale Tapley, said of Ms. Howard, “Very few women could carry her work as well as she does. No matter what our difficulties, we can count on Miss Howard to be brave, co-operative, and helpful."  She continued raising funds for the work in Africa and even brought some of her former students from the Congo to Spelman where they, in turn, became missionaries.