Alyce Clarke

Alyce Clarke
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
from the 69th district
In office
1985 – January 2, 2024
Succeeded byTamarra Butler-Washington
Personal details
Born (1939-07-03) July 3, 1939 (age 85)
Yazoo City, Mississippi, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic

Alyce Griffin Clarke (born July 3, 1939) is an American politician. A Democrat, she is a former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 69th district, being first elected in 1984 and serving until 2024. She was the first black woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature.[1]

Early life

Clarke was born on July 3, 1939, in Yazoo City, Mississippi. She received a bachelor's degree from Alcorn State University and a master's degree from Tuskegee Institute. She also attended Jackson State University and Mississippi College.[2] Prior running for office, Clarke worked in education, teaching home economics. She also worked as a nutritionist at a community health center in Hinds County.[3] She married L.W. Clarke Jr and they had one child, Demarquis Johntrell.[2]

Political career

Clarke was first elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives for the 69th district in 1984. She was the first black woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature.[1] She worked on bringing the federal Women, Infants and Children food program to the state, setting up drug courts and organizing school breakfasts.[3] In the 1990s, she founded a short-lived "biracial, bipartisan" Women's Caucus in the Mississippi House.[3]

She retired at the 2023 Mississippi elections in November.[4]

Personal life

In 1981, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[3]

Legacy

In 2024, she became the first woman and the first black person to have their portrait on display in the Mississippi State Capitol. Her portrait is an oil painting, and is in the room of the Capitol where the House Education Committee meets.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Eubanks, Katie. "The women who run our state". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Dolling, Yolanda, ed. (1991). Who's who of women in world politics (1st ed.). London: Bowker-Saur. p. 63. ISBN 0-86291-627-5. OCLC 24380132.
  3. ^ a b c d The Political Lives of Mississippi Women, in Black and White, by Ellen Ann Fentress; at Bitter Southerner; retrieved November 1, 2018
  4. ^ Perlis, Wicker. "Jackson lawmaker, first Black woman elected to MS Legislature, will not seek reelection". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  5. ^ "The first Black woman in the Mississippi Legislature now has her portrait in the state Capitol". AP News. February 13, 2024.


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