Story Of Clennon King: Black Scholar Sent To Mental Asylum For Applying To College

Source: Mississippi Department of Archives and History / Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Starring down the long halls of an insane asylum is the last place anyone expected a young, ambitious scholar to end up. Yet, Clennon King found himself in this very position, fighting for an education, equality and a chance at a better life.

Imagine trying to educate yourself, but because of the color of your skin, they call your passion for learning a crime and your ambition a sign of madness. Could you prevail? Well, Clennon King not only prevailed but also went on to become the first black man to run for president of the United States.

This is the story of Clennon Washington King Jr.

Clennon King was born on July 18, 1920, in Albany, Georgia, the oldest of seven children. His father was a civil rights activist, Tuskegee Institute student, and chauffeur of  Booker T. Washington. Education was very important to his family. His brothers all had prominent work for Black men at the time, one serving as a lawyer, another a real estate agent, and a third a civil rights activist.

According to the Mississippi Encyclopedia, King earned a bachelor’s degree at Tuskegee Institute and a master’s degree from Case Western Reserve University. He then went on to teach at various black colleges during the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1957, King’s life began to change drastically as he began to push back against the establishment. As a history professor at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University), King criticized NAACP members, calling out their integration tactics, claiming they disrupted race relations between whites and “ordinary” blacks. In response, more than 600 students boycotted his classes and by the end of the 1958 school year, Alcorn College let his contract expire.

Since he wasn’t teaching anymore, King decided to continue his pursuit of higher education, and in the summer of 1958, he tried to enter the graduate program in history at the University of Mississippi. He was the first Black person to ever apply and racism quickly became more important than a human trying to better themself.

When Clennon King arrived at the campus to register, Gov. J. P. Coleman, members of the state highway patrol, and several plainclothes officers were there to introduce him to the white power structures of hatred and bigotry. They didn’t allow King to register, visibly forcing him from the area, arresting the Black man, then taking him to jail. According to the Mississippi Encyclopedia, two physicians from the jail declared King insane, forcing him to spend nearly two weeks in a state asylum. King stayed in the state asylum until his brother, civil rights lawyer C. B. King, fought and got him released.

This is the moment when most people would fold. America just revealed its ugly soul to King, and it could have ended his dreams, but it didn’t.

In 1960, Clennon King ran for president and became the first Black man to do so. Running on the Independent Afro-American Party ticket, King amassed 1,485 votes in Alabama and finished 11th nationally in a 12-candidate field. Although he lost, he paved the way for Black people to have a voice in the White House. In 1979, he moved to Miami and established All Faiths Church of Divine Mission, the Arenia Mallory School of Religion, the Miami Council for Church and Social Action, and the Party of God.  He would continue to run in local elections, and although he didn’t win, his story is a testament to his resilience and perseverance in times of adversity.

King didn’t allow the white power structure to control his dreams, he fought through it and forged his own path with his own clear destiny.

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