Clarie Collins Harvey

Clarie Collins Harvey (born Emma Augusta Clarie Collins; November 27, 1916 - May 27, 1995) was an African American businesswoman, religious leader and prominent activist during the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Her organization Womanpower Unlimited helped sustain the Freedom Riders during their imprisonment at Parchman Penitentiary. The pair laid the foundation for Collins's activism which would begin to develop in University.

As the only child of a successful middle-class family, Collins was afforded many educational and career opportunities not made available to other black Mississippians. She earned her undergraduate degree from Spelman College for economics (1937), certification from Indiana College of Mortuary Science, a master's degree in personnel administration from Columbia University (1950) and spent time at the Union Theological Seminary, Tougaloo College and New York University's Graduate School of Business Administration.

During Collins's senior year at Spelman, she travelled to Amsterdam to represent the YWCA at the World Conference of Christian Youth. She would meet her future husband, Martin L. Harvey, on this trip. Martin L. Harvey was also an important activist and educational leader for several HBCU's. His role as the dean of students at Southern University was honored by having a building named after him. The Martin L. Harvey Chapel remained active until 2001 when it was renamed The Southern University Museum of Arts. Harvey and Collins had a long courting period during which both parties gained additional degrees and worked to advance their respective careers. Harvey's father had died during her trip to Amsterdam and she was expected to take on a greater role at her family's funeral home. The pair was eventually able to wed on August 1, 1943, but their marriage continued to be long-distance, as their careers required them to be in different cities.

Activism

Ecumenical Harvey's parents raised her as a member of the Methodist Church, exposing her to the ecumenical movement at a young age. Harvey used faith as an entry point for her long activist career. At Spelman, Harvey spent her senior year serving as the president of their campus branch of the YWCA. After her time in University, she served as the Secretary of the National Council of Methodist Youth, Secretary for the General Board of Christian Social Concerns of the Methodist Church (1960-1964) and helped develop a church center for the United Nations. Her impact was made global through her work for the Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief, a program which offered aid to more than 78 countries. Harvey met Pope John XXIII during a pilgrimage to Rome. Womanpower Unlimited would later broaden its activist activities through voter registration events, school desegregation advocacy and creating educational scholarships. Harvey provided funding and meeting spaces for the group. Following this integrationist approach, she and other members of Womanpower Unlimited organized a group called the Chain of Friendship which brought white women from northern states into Mississippi to develop an interracial community. Harvey also spent a decade serving on the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights and was involved in several other civil rights groups, including the National Council of Negro Women, NAACP and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Harvey used her business savvy to assist the NAACP with their marketing strategies, promoted selective buying campaigns which led to financial losses for businesses refusing to employ or fairly treat black workers and used her funeral expertise and resources to coordinate the funeral of prominent civil rights activist and colleague, Medgar Evers. As a mortician, Harvey politicized death and sent newsletters from her funeral home to black Mississippians who may have been overwhelmed or desensitized by white violence. As a high-earning member of the African American community, Harvey believed she too had a role in combating poverty. She fought for the right to quality public housing, invested in black businesses and when she saw companies like Sears take advantage of the socioeconomically and racially oppressed, she immediately sold her stocks. and the Seventeenth National Disarmament Conference in Geneva, and travelled to Paris for the Vietnam Peace Talks. She continued to work as a mortician and her business, the State Mutual Savings and Loan Association, would go on to become a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Achievements Honorary Doctorate from Spelman College (1977). Honorary Doctorate from Rust College (December 1971). Churchwoman of the year from Religious Heritage of America (1974). Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference Award (1973). Top Hat Award, New Pittsburg Courier (1974). Outstanding Small Business Woman, Central Region, National Council of Small Business Management Development (1976). Black Students Association for Outstanding Leadership (1982). Council of Deliberation Black History Award (1990). Recipient of the Black History award at Jackson State University (1990). Gave commencement speech at Spelman College (1973). State President of Mississippi Funeral Directors and Morticians Association. Albert Gallatin Business Award Certificate of Merit (1975). Regional VI Governor of the National Association of Funeral Directors and Embalmers (1956-1960).