US American Innovative Dollar 2020

9 South Carolina P

The American Innovation $1 Coin representing South Carolina honors educator and civil rights activist Septima Poinsette Clark.

Educator and activist Septima Poinsette Clark has been called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Born May 3, 1898, in Charleston, SC, she was a social innovator and pioneer who shined the spotlight on the crucial link between education and political organizing aimed at gaining the right to vote.

Young Septima attended Avery Normal Institute, a private school for African Americans in Charleston. After earning her bachelor's degree at Benedict College and master’s at Hampton Institute, she obtained a teaching license, but local laws at the time prohibited African Americans from teaching in public schools, so she instead became an instructor on South Carolina’s Johns Island. She later returned to Charleston to teach at Avery and joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Clark later worked at Tennessee’s Highlander Folk School as director of its citizen school program focused on basic literacy and math skills. Her efforts increased voter registration, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference later took over this critical education project, with her as its director of education and teaching. Under her leadership, Clark helped establish more than 800 citizenship schools.

Denomination:	Dollar
Composition:	6% Zinc, 3.5% Manganese, 2% Nickel, Balance Copper
Weight:	8.100 grams
Diameter:	1.043 inches (26.49 mm)
Edge:	Lettered
Mint and Mint Mark:	Philadelphia – P Denver – D