By “Sister Tarpley”
“Receiving the 2013 National Humanities Medal… was both a blessing and a profound moment in the history of Black Women’s History because it represented acknowledgement and appreciation of the work that I and my generation of scholars did to include the contributions that Black women have made to our nation’s progress and to the global struggle against social injustice, and economic and gender inequality.”
As an historian, Darlene Clark Hine, sought not only to explore Black history, but to expand the discipline of history itself by focusing on Black women “who remained at the very bottom of the ladder in the United States.”
A leading expert on the subject of race, class, and gender in American society, Hine is credited with helping to establish a doctoral field in Comparative Black History at Michigan State University.
While attending Chicago’s Roosevelt University in the sixties, Hine says it was “hearing Black activists refer so often to history, seeing the Black culture celebrated by artists, and reading new works by Black writers that inspired her with the hope that someday she could change the very definition of “history.”
“Historians can write a history of anything or anyone,” Hine is quoted as saying, “but apparently few considered Black women worth the telling.” Hine herself had to be persuaded to explore the lives of Black women in Indiana, but soon became convinced that the United States history was leaving out far too much that was important to nurture a comprehensive understanding of American society.
Thus, her preliminary research on women’s roles in churches and other settings led to brief monograph, When the Truth Is Told: Black Women’s Community and Culture in Indiana, 1875-1950 (1980).
“If I can…impress upon the historical profession” she once insisted, “how important it is to talk to and illuminate the lives of people who did not leave written records, but who also influenced generations of women all over the globe, then I will feel that my career is worthwhile.”
Darlene Clark Hines was born in Morley, Missouri, the oldest of four daughters of Levester Clark, a truck driver and Lottie Mae Clark. She has one daughter, Robbie Davine
She received her BA in 1968 from Roosevelt University, her MA from Kent State University in 1970 and her PH.D in 1975 also from Kent State University.
From 1972-74 Hine worked as an assistant professor of History and Black Studies at South Carolina State College, 1974-79 she worked as an assistant professor at Purdue University in Indiana and 1979-85 an Associate professor.
From 1985 to 2004 Hine served as the John A. Hannah Professor of History at Michigan State University in East Lansing. She helped to establish a new doctoral field in comparative Black history, one of the first of its kind. She also helped edit a series on Black history in the United Statesman Milestones in Black History.
Hine wrote three books about Black women’s history. Her book Black Women in Whites was named Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Myers Center of Study of Human Rights. he edited a two-volume encyclopedia, Black Women in America. Her book, A Shining Thread of Hope was favorably reviewed in the New York Times. Hines’ papers are preserved in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.
Because of her expertise on the subject of race, class, and gender in American society, Hine received the Otto Wirth Alumni Award for outstanding scholarship from Roosevelt University in 1988 and the Special achievement award from Kent State University Alumni Association in 1991. Hine was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 and Amherst from Purdue University in 2002.
In 2010 the inaugural Organization of American Historians presented the Darlene Clark Hine Award for best book in Black Women and Gender History. Hine was presented with the 2013 National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama for her work on understanding the Black experience.
