Septima CLARK was an American civil rights icon and educator. She was born in 1898 in South Carolina and was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was a key figure in the struggle for equal rights for African Americans, and she was instrumental in the desegregation of public schools in the United States. She was also a founder of the Citizenship Education Program, which provided literacy and leadership training to African Americans. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989 for her work in civil rights.