Over the four hours Clark's coffin lay in the Capitol Rotunda under the guard of state troopers, dozens of people cycled through the room. All of them came to honor a man who endured racist ostracism when he first entered the Capitol in 1968, but rose to become one of the most revered lawmakers in Mississippi history. Clark died on March 4 at his home in Ebenezer. He was 96.
Austin Wiley, a 77-year-old farmer from Lexington, was overcome with emotion while reflecting on Clark’s life. Wiley first knew him as "Coach Clark," who would protect their all-Black high school football team from the hostilities of white opposing players and their fans. Wiley says Clark stayed a mentor and friend to him throughout the 36 years Clark spent in the legislature.
“He never did forget his common man,” Wiley said. “I don't care how high he got. We would have a class reunion. He would show up, give us a history lesson of how he was treated down here at the capitol.”
Clark, a Holmes County native, was shunned by his white colleagues during the early years of his legislative career and forced to sit by himself on the House floor. When Clark retired in 2004, he had held the second-highest leadership position in the House, speaker pro tempore, for over a decade.
Karen Tiggs, Clark’s niece by marriage, says he often shared stories of political battles with family members to instill the same kind of drive and perseverance in them. She's now sharing those same stories with her grandchildren.
“By him sharing those stories with us, it's in our hearts, in our minds and we walk the walk and talk the talk so that we can live his legacy,” Tiggs said.
Clark ran two unsuccessful campaigns in the 1980’s to represent Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mike Espy later won that seat and became the first Black Mississippian elected to the U.S. Congress. That position is now held by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, who was among the elected officials who came to honor Clark on Sunday.
Thompson says there's “nothing like a winner” and Clark’s first electoral victory showed Black Mississippians they could enter public service. Now, Mississippi has more Black elected officials than any other state in the nation.
“It's Robert Clark's legacy that has helped get those numbers where they are, but we can't stop,” Thompson said. “We still got work to do.”
Clark’s funeral service will be held on Tuesday in Lexington.
