Josephine Clement

Josephine Ophelia Dobbs Clement ( Dobbs; February 9, 1918 – March 23, 1998) was an American politician, teacher, and civil rights activist. She served on the Board of Education of Durham, North Carolina, the first Black woman to do so.

Education and early career Josephine Ophelia Dobbs was born on February 9, 1918, in Atlanta, Georgia, the fourth of six daughters to civic leader John Wesley Dobbs and Irene Dobbs ( Thompson). Her sisters include Mattiwilda Dobbs (1925–2015), professor Irene Dobbs Jackson, and educator June Dobbs Butts (1928–2019).

She graduated from Spelman College in 1937 and later earned a Master of Arts degree in home economics from Teachers College, Columbia University. Clement and 15 other women leaders in the black community chartered the Durham chapter of the Links, a national service organization, in 1958.

Political career In 1971, Clement was appointed to a commission that studied the potential consolidation of Durham City and Durham County. In 1978, she became the first black woman to chair the board, and remained in that role for five years.

Durham County Board of Commissioners

Personal life Josephine Dobbs married William A. Clement on December 24, 1941. William's first wife, Frances, had died of cancer in 1940; they had one daughter, Alexine (born 1936). After they were married, Josephine and William had five children: sons William A. (born 1943), Wesley Dobbs (born 1946), and Arthur John (born 1948), and daughters Kathleen Ophelia (born 1957) and Josephine Millicent.

Legacy The Durham Public Education Network, a nonprofit group, established the Josephine Dobbs Clement Award in 1995. The award is presented annually for "exemplary community leadership in public education".

Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College High School, a partnership between Durham Public Schools and North Carolina Central University, opened in 2004 and is named in Clement's honor. Cecelia Steppe-Jones, former dean of the School of Education at North Carolina Central University, said that in choosing the name of the school, the program's planners "wanted something special—a name of someone who was or had been an advocate for children", and that Clement's name was ultimately selected due to her public education advocacy, social activism, and leadership.