Celebrating Our Honorees | Montgomery College, Maryland

Honorary Degree Recipients 1996–2019

2013 Honorary Degree Recipients

Ms. Nina H. Clarke
Retired Educator Montgomery County Public Schools

Ms. Nina H. Clarke

Ms. Nina H. Clarke, a native of Montgomery County and a product of Montgomery County Public Schools, served for 36 years as a teacher, specialist, and administrator in both segregated and integrated schools in Montgomery County.

Ms. Clarke began her career teaching in segregated elementary schools in Montgomery County. Prior to integration, she served as the first black delegate to the Integrated Teachers Association in Montgomery County.

In 1961, when Sandy Spring Consolidated closed because of integration, Ms. Clarke moved to Hungerford Elementary in Rockville. In 1962, the Board of Education selected her to be the first black teacher specialist in reading/language arts. She then taught first grade at an experimental school, Spring Mill Elementary, in Silver Spring, where she taught for four years. In 1967, she accepted the assistant principal position at Brookhaven Elementary in Silver Spring. The next year, she began serving as the principal at Aspen Hill Elementary until her retirement.

Ms. Clarke’s long record of volunteer work includes lecturing on black history at the Montgomery County Ethnic Festival, Peerless Rockville Historical Society, Montgomery County Historical Society, and many county schools and churches. She worked on profiles of outstanding blacks in Montgomery County. In 1986, the Montgomery County executive appointed Ms. Clarke to the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Committee. In 1987, she became a member of the Advisory Committee on Minority Student Education for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Among her many accolades, Ms. Clarke received the Community Service Award from the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Older American Achievement Award from the Commission on Aging, and the Geri Award, Maryland’s outstanding volunteer, from the Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, Inc. She received a citation from the Honorable Sidney Kramer for her contributions to education. She earned induction into the Montgomery County Human Relations Hall of Fame. And the Montgomery County Commission for Women honored her as one of 30 Women of Historical Significance.

Ms. Clarke co-authored, with Lillian Brown, History of the Black Public Schools of Montgomery County, Maryland, 1872–1961. She also published the book, History of the Nineteenth Century Black Churches in Maryland and Washington, DC.

She received a teaching certificate from Bowie State College, a bachelor’s degree from Hampton Institute, and a master’s degree from Boston University.