Susan Clark was just 13 when she became the first Black student in the United States to integrate a public school through a court order. Her lawsuit, decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1868, gave all Iowa children the right to attend public school regardless of race, religion, nationality, or any other distinction. Segregated schools were the norm in many states until the 1954 US Supreme Court ruling, and Susan's case contributed to that landmark decision.
Now, Joshalyn Hickey-Johnson is offering an imagined glimpse into the true story of Susie Clark and the Clark family who desegregated Iowa schools in 1868 in the children's book Susie Clark: The Bravest Girl You've Ever Seen. The picture book beautifully simplifies for young readers a decades-long struggle for civil rights in a period before, during, and after the Civil War.
