Talk:Joseph Samuel Clark

Dates
This article says he was offered to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia in 1940, but this JSTOR article says it happened in 1931...Zigzig20s (talk) 21:34, 16 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I would favor the article published in an academic journal. It notes his declining the position because he was still pres of Southern, but in 1940 he retired, so conceivably would have been available. More critically, it makes more sense in those years that Clark (likely a Republican) was appointed to a patronage position (which is what ambassadorships are) by a Republican rather than a Democratic president. This is especially because the Southern Democrats still excluded blacks from voting and holding office in the political system, so would not necessarily have approved such an appointment, even to an African country. Parkwells (talk) 22:20, 16 June 2018 (UTC)
 * You're probably right. By the way, I am not sure what to make of List of presidents of Southern University.Zigzig20s (talk) 23:36, 16 June 2018 (UTC)
 * You might check to see if this list is consistent with whatever is on Southern University's website. They probably have a list of presidents. It was really grandiose to call the first school a college and the heads "presidents". The first missionary colleges were often little more than a preparatory or high school, and some had elementary-level classes, as many students were starting nearly from scratch.Parkwells (talk) 19:44, 17 June 2018 (UTC)


 * User:Parkwells: By the way, this says his son became the president of SU in 1938. Are you sure about 1940 please?Zigzig20s (talk) 18:09, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't have anything more than the two sources I started with, but maybe we should go with the NY Times. That, at least, is the official story the university was telling itself in 1970 about the tenure of its presidents. The Clarks may have had some interim overlap accounting for at least one person counting 1940. FG Clark had become a dean at Southern after teaching elsewhere, before he was selected as president. For the two Clarks, I did not want to get into the earliest 1880s years of there barely being a school. I think Joseph Clark, when head of Baton Rouge College, was probably at a kind of seminary/high school, as was typical of many of the first missionary schools. But the modern period really started after Southern was designated as a land grant college in 1890; the state was acquiring land in Scotlandville as early as 1912, as I recall from one article. (Had access yesterday to some of an Arcadia Publishing book about Scotlandville, but today it's closed off.) It was too much to get into the history back to 1880.Parkwells (talk) 19:44, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
 * User:Parkwells: Could you please reference the content you've added? The CN tags are getting in the way of the DYK. Thanks.Zigzig20s (talk) 21:01, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I have referenced the content with the JSTOR article.Zigzig20s (talk) 03:46, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Layout
User:Parkwells: It is standard to add a "Personal life and death" section at the bottom of the article with the spouse/children and death.Zigzig20s (talk) 01:01, 18 June 2018 (UTC)


 * It is equally standard to have a section on "Marriage and family" earlier in the article. I think it is important to put there because it shows how Felton was influenced by growing up with his father as an example and in the college environment. The two of them were hugely important to development of the university for more than 50 years through much of the 20th century. Sticking it at the end of the article makes it seem the family was an afterthought. His son's career is part of JS Clark's legacy, just as in a political dynasty.Parkwells (talk) 01:10, 18 June 2018 (UTC)
 * This article is about the father, not the son. You may contextualize Felton Grandison Clark a bit more there if you want.Zigzig20s (talk) 01:12, 18 June 2018 (UTC)
 * By the way, could you please fix the two CN issues in this article? This is the priority.Zigzig20s (talk) 01:12, 18 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I have referenced the content with the JSTOR article.Zigzig20s (talk) 03:45, 18 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for adding those; I was unable to work on it much yesterday. Added some facts and cites.Parkwells (talk) 16:06, 18 June 2018 (UTC)