Alice Pollard Clark

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Alice Gail Pollard Clark (born February 12, 1940) is a retired American judge from Maryland. In 1997, she became the first African American woman to serve as district judge for Howard County, Maryland.

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Biography

LeDroit Park, Washington DC MG 4214 (6182415984).jpg
LeDroit Park, Washington DC

Alice Gail Pollard was born on February 12, 1940 in Washington, DC. [1] She grew up on Randolph Place in the LeDroit Park neighborhood of Northwest, Washington. [2] The area would become notable as the home of four black women who would eventually become pioneering jurists, one of them Clark. [3] Pollard graduated from Washington's Paul Lawrence Dunbar Senior High School in before heading to university. [4]

Educator

Clark attended Howard University and graduated with a bachelors degree in Science in 1961. She would go on to became a science teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools system. In 1963, she received a Masters degree from Catholic University of America. [1] After teaching for eight years, she became a guidance counselor. After spending nearly twenty years as an educator and counselor, she returned to university to attend law school in her late thirties. [5] Clark graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1982 and passed the bar exam the following year. [6] [7]

Howard County Courthouse, Elicott, Maryland Howard County Courthouse.JPG
Howard County Courthouse, Elicott, Maryland

In 1990, she became the first black woman attorney in the Howard County office of the Public Defender. [1] In 1995, she was appointed by Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening to Howard County's circuit court. [2] The following year, she was named Outstanding Assistant Public Defender of the Year for Howard and Carroll Counties. [4]

In 1997 at age 57, she became the first African American woman appointed to the district court bench in Howard County. [8] [2] Her appointment by Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening filled the vacancy of former District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman. [2] Clark would continue to work with education and youth while a jurist.

Heritage Trail marker Anna J. Cooper Circle Park.jpg
Heritage Trail marker

Clark retired from the bench on February 11, 2010, after reaching age 70, the county's mandatory retirement age. [1]

Legacy

Today Clark's accomplishments are recognized on the LeDroit Park-Bloomingdale Heritage Trail in her hometown of NW Washington. [3] [9] [10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Alice P. Clark MSA SC 3520-2649". msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Living Her Dream, Judge Clark Makes History". The Washington Post. June 19, 1997.
  3. 1 2 "LeDroit Park: Behind the Gate, Trustees of History". UrbanTurf. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  4. 1 2 "Maryland District Court Judge Alice G. Pollard Clark". 2000mdmanual.msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  5. ↑ Shanon D. Murray, "Clark sworn as judge in District Court; She becomes first African-American on district bench; 'Never too late to dream'; Emotional ceremony a step in healing racial divisions."  The Baltimore Sun, 12 June 1997.
  6. ↑ "Judicial Appointments". The Washington Post. May 24, 1997.
  7. ↑ "State Releases List of Those Who Passed Bar Exam". The Washington Post. December 1, 1983.
  8. ↑ Freitag, Susan. "Women hold a quarter of Maryland judgeships In 1981, data show, they were 5% of bench". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  9. ↑ Jefferson, Ashley (2014-09-26). "Worthy Ambition: The LeDroit Park/Bloomingdale Heritage Trail Preview". LeDroit Park Civic Association. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  10. ↑ "Heritage Trail signs finally installed || Left for LeDroit" . Retrieved 2025-02-03.
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