EICC to host “Alexander Clark, We Tell Your Story” February 26

Presented as part of the Alexander Clark Lecture Series, the program continues a long-standing community tradition honoring one of Iowa’s most significant civil rights leaders.

 

Alexander Clark moved to Muscatine in 1842 and became a successful businessman, educator, attorney, and civil rights advocate. He is best known for his landmark lawsuit against the Muscatine school board, which led the Iowa Supreme Court to desegregate the state’s public schools - 86 years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Clark gained national recognition for his powerful advocacy and public speaking and later served as U.S. Minister to Liberia.

 

Established in 2010, the Alexander Clark Lecture Series provides sustained public programming that explores Clark’s legacy through history, law, the arts, and civic dialogue. Over the past 15 years, the series has welcomed historians, legal scholars, writers, educators, and artists whose work examines issues connected to Clark’s life and the ongoing pursuit of justice and equality.

 

This year’s event centers on the power of storytelling at moments of personal and national reflection.

 

Cianon Jones is a Haitian-American playwright and current MFA candidate in the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop. Commissioned through a partnership among the University of Iowa’s Arts Share program, the Muscatine Art Center, and the Stanley Center’s Global Education program, she created Barberman: The Alexander Clark Story, an evolving play inspired by Clark’s life and legacy. Jones first presented the work publicly in Muscatine as part of the 2025 Alexander Clark Lecture Series and will read from the developing script during this year’s program.

 

Rachelle Chase is an Iowa author and historian whose work brings overlooked stories of Black Iowa history to life for readers of all ages. She will share from her forthcoming book for young readers, The Time I Was Susan Clark, which explores imagination, voice, and the ways individual lives connect to the history they inhabit. Chase previously appeared in the Alexander Clark Lecture Series in 2018 with a presentation on the history of Buxton, Iowa.

 

The 2026 program is framed by two significant anniversaries: the 200th birthday of Alexander Clark and the approaching 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In that context, Jones and Chase will discuss storytelling as an act of awareness and witness, and as a way to examine national ideals alongside personal truths.

 

The Alexander Clark Lecture Series is supported by Eastern Iowa Community Colleges and the Alexander Clark Foundation. Together, these partnerships reflect a shared commitment to preserving local history while fostering meaningful civic conversation.