Anna Mac Clarke (1919 - 1944)

Born 20 Jun 1919 in Lawrenceburg, Anderson, Kentucky, United States

Died 1944 at about age 24 in Douglas, Cochise, Arizona, United States

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Biography

Anna Clarke is Notable.

Anna Mac Clarke became the first African American woman to be a commanding officer of an otherwise all-white regiment^[1].

Anna was born Anna Mack Mitchel in 1919^[2]. Clarke was one of the first African American women from Kentucky to enlist during World War II, the first to become an officer, and the first African American WAC over an all-white regiment. She enlisted in Cincinnati, OH.^[3]

Clarke led the protest that desegregated the Douglas Army Airfield theater. Kentucky Historical Marker #1970 (website includes video) has been placed on the Lawrenceburg courthouse lawn in her memory. She is buried in Stringtown, KY. She passed away in 1944.

Research Notes

Anna Mac Clarke was born Anna Mack Mitchel in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Anna Mac Clarke's mother, Nora Mitchel, was a cook in Lawrenceburg, and her father Tom Clark, was a laborer from Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Since her parents never married, Anna Mack Mitchel would come be known as Anna Mac Clarke after dropping the "k" from Mack, and adding an "e" to the end of her father's last name.

Anna Mac Clarke's mother Nora had three more children, two boys and one girl. Franklin, Lucien, and Evelyn were Anna Mac Clarke's half-siblings, as they only shared the same mother. When Nora died of edema, the four children were raised by their grandmother, Lucy Medley^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ * Wikipedia entry: Wikipedia contributors, "Anna Mac Clarke"
   Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (accessed 12 February 2024)
2. ↑ "Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911-1999," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHK-HS7V : 5 December 2023), Anna M Mitchel, 20 Jun 1919; citing Birth, Anderson, Kentucky, United States, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort.
3. ↑ “Clarke, Anna Mac,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed February 12, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/872.
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Mac_Clarke

• 1940 Census: "United States Census, 1940"
  citing Affiliate Publication Number: T627; Line: 18; Digital film/folder number: 005460583; Image number: 42; Sheet number: 19; Sheet letter: A
  FamilySearch Record: K75P-P6H (accessed 12 February 2024)
  FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-L9M1-9J92
  Anna Mack Clark (20), single granddaughter, in household of Lucy Medley (63) in Lawrenceburg, Anderson, Kentucky, United States. Born in Kentucky.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59395680/anna_mac-clarke: accessed February 12, 2024), memorial page for 1LT Anna Mac Clarke (–), Find a Grave Memorial ID 59395680, citing Woodlawn Hills Cemetery, Lawrenceburg, Anderson County, Kentucky, USA; Maintained by BDA. (contributor 47034307).

See also:

• https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/293