Josephine Ophelia Dobbs Clement (néeDobbs; February 9, 1918 – March 23, 1998) was an American politician, teacher, and civil rights activist. She served on the Board of Education of Durham, North Carolina, the first Black woman to do so.
In the late 1940s, Josephine and William Clement filed lawsuits challenging racial discrimination in schools.[5] Clement and 15 other women leaders in the black community chartered the Durham chapter of the Links, a national service organization, in 1958.[6]
Political career
In 1971, Clement was appointed to a commission that studied the potential consolidation of Durham City and Durham County.[5] The commission's proposed plan for consolidation was rejected in a 1974 referendum.[7]
The Durham City Council appointed Clement to the Durham City Board of Education in 1973. She was the first black woman to serve on the board.[8] In 1975, the city council asked the North Carolina General Assembly to make the school board an elected body; the legislation was passed in June of the same year. Clement was re-elected to the school board in 1975 and 1979, becoming part of the first black-majority school board in North Carolina.[8][9] In 1978, she became the first black woman to chair the board, and remained in that role for five years.[5][8]
Clement was appointed to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in 1984.[10] She was elected to the board in November 1984, and served three terms until 1990.[11]
Josephine Dobbs married William A. Clement on December 24, 1941. William's first wife, Frances, had died of cancer in 1940; they had one daughter, Alexine (born 1936). After they were married, Josephine and William had five children: sons William A. (born 1943), Wesley Dobbs (born 1946), and Arthur John (born 1948), and daughters Kathleen Ophelia (born 1957) and Josephine Millicent.[3]
The Durham Public Education Network, a nonprofit group, established the Josephine Dobbs Clement Award in 1995.[18] The award is presented annually for "exemplary community leadership in public education".[18][19]
Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College High School, a partnership between Durham Public Schools and North Carolina Central University, opened in 2004 and is named in Clement's honor.[20][21] Cecelia Steppe-Jones, former dean of the School of Education at North Carolina Central University, said that in choosing the name of the school, the program's planners "wanted something special—a name of someone who was or had been an advocate for children", and that Clement's name was ultimately selected due to her public education advocacy, social activism, and leadership.[22]
Notes
^ abcdThe recorded election turnout. Each voter selected up to five candidates and the top five vote getters won the election.
^ abcAdvanced to a runoff election in June 1984. Hight and McCutcheon won the runoff and advanced to the general election, while Teer was eliminated from the race.
^ abThe recorded election turnout. Each voter selected up to five candidates and the top five vote getters advanced to the general election.
^ ab"William A. Clement Papers, 1930-1998". The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. UNC University Libraries. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
^Steppe-Jones, Cecelia (June 2011). Commencement Speech (Speech). Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College High School Commencement 2011. NCCU Teaching Matters. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
