Jan
26
2012
The Last of the “Race Men”
I just learned that Dr. Lawrence M. Clark left this world to be with his Savior a couple days ago. It’s likely that you’ve never heard of Dr. Clark. But there was hardly an African-American student that passed through NC State University in the 80s and 90s that did not know Dr. Clark.
He was an ambassador for African-American history and culture and a tireless champion/mentor for healthy respect and diversity on campus. In the 80s and 90s, Dr. Clark used to host part of the orientation for incoming freshmen. He pioneered this slide presentation (anybody remember slides?!) called, “Who Am I?” It was a tour de force in African and African-American history. In my days on campus, he was part of a dynamic twosome with Dr. Gus Witherspoon, who went to be with the Lord a few years back. Together they were good cop (Clark) and bad cop (Witherspoon) in agitating for so many good causes. When they did “Who Am I?” together it was as if you were transported centuries into the past and walked distant shores and sands of history. They were fierce.
Students were often in Dr. Clark’s house eating up his food, listening to him regale them with history, stories, and jokes. He was the favorite uncle or the slightly whacky grandpa, only with serious depth. He could call you in his office and put you back in line, too. I’ve received that call a couple times for being “out my natural born mind.”
And he was a brother in the Lord. I didn’t respect that at the time–too radical, too angry, too blind, a Muslim. But he witnessed patiently and prodded gently and never rejected me. God, I owe so much to him. He was a dear, dear man.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, one of the best compliments you could have paid an African-American was to call him a “race man.” It was simply a way of saying that he was committed to the advance and progress of African-Americans. Such a man was an example of industry, intelligence, and insistence. He was unimpeachable in character. Dr. Clark would be among the last of the great “race men.” He’ll be remembered and missed. I pray for his four children, their families, and the extended family as they mourn such a great loss.