Clarke, Anna Mac
(born: June 20, 1919 - died: April 19, 1944)Anna M. Clarke, born in Lawrenceburg, KY, was a graduate of the Lawrenceburg Colored School and a 1941 graduate of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University].
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.
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.
For more see the Ann M. Clark enlistment records in the National Archives, Access to Archival Databases, and in Ancestry.com; Lt. Anna Mac Clark in the "Colored Notes" of The Lexington Herald, 4/20/1944, p. 12; J. M. Trowbridge, "Anna Mac Clark: a pioneer in military leadership," Cochise Quarterly, vol. 26 (Winter 1996); and Anna Mac Clarke at Explore Kentucky History.
