Robert Clark Jr died at 96 – American politician

Biography and cause of death of Robert Clark Jr

From 1968 until 2004, Robert Clark Jr represented the 47th district in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was an American politician. Clark was born on October 3, 1928, and died on March 4, 2025. For the first time since 1894, he represented Mississippi in the state legislature as an African American.

Robert Clark Jr Background

In Ebenezer, Holmes County, Mississippi, Robert G. Clark was born into a landowning family. His great-grandfather had purchased land during the American Civil War, and Robert Sr. continued farming on the property.

Robert Clark Jr. attended Jackson State University for his undergraduate degree and Michigan State University for his master’s degree in educational administration and services; he was almost a doctoral candidate before he entered politics. In 1960, 800 independent black proprietors possessed almost half of the land area of Holmes County, an uncommon circumstance in a state where sharecropping was the primary agricultural system—like much of the American South.

At 96 years of age, Clark passed away on March 4, 2025, in Holmes County.

Robert Clark Jr Between politics and civil rights

Robert Clark Jr. got active with the civil rights movement—which had been attempting to enroll and educate voters since 1963—while serving as a teacher in Holmes County, Mississippi. He consented to run for office in 1967 as a Freedom Democratic Party (FDP) candidate after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, even though he was not a member of the FDP at the time. For the first time since their forefathers were disenfranchised in 1890, hundreds of Black voters were registered by the FDP when the county was assigned a federal registrar in November 1965.

Robert Clark Jr. assumed his position on January 2, 1968, after being elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1967 by the county’s black majority. Since Reconstruction, no African American had ever before been elected to the Mississippi State Legislature until he did it. Up until 1976, he stood alone among the state house’s African-American representatives. He was re-elected many times and remained in office until 2003.

Robert Clark Jr. made history in 1977 when he became the first Black member of the Mississippi House of Representatives to head a committee. For 10 formative years, he oversaw the “Education Committee,” which was responsible for implementing educational reforms in Mississippi. Under his leadership, the House of Representatives enacted the Education Reform Act of 1982 and the Vocational Education Reform Act of 1984, both of which were well praised.

Despite receiving the Democratic nomination in 1982, he was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid for the 2nd congressional district of Mississippi due to a lack of party support.

His term as Speaker Pro Tempore began in January 1992. Starting with the 1996 session and again at the beginning of the 2000 session, he was re-elected to that office. He has the distinction of being the longest-serving member in continuous House service until he resigned from the Mississippi House of Representatives in December 2003. His son, Bryant Clark, replaced him in the post.

At the dedication of the Clark State Building in 2004, Clark made history as the first African American to receive such an honor. Clark was a statesman in the legislature, well-respected for his ability to collaborate with his peers.