Clara Byrd Baker was a pioneering educator, civic leader, and suffragist who dedicated her life to advocating for equal rights, particularly in education and for women’s voting rights. A graduate of Hampton Institute and Virginia State College for Negroes (now Virginia State University), Baker began her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in 1902 and later taught at a public training school for African-American children and the Bruton Heights School. She made history in 1920 by becoming the first woman in Williamsburg to vote after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Her lifelong dedication to education and civic engagement earned her numerous honors, and an elementary school in Williamsburg, Virginia, is named in her honor.
