Dr. Clara L. Small recently retired from her professorship in history at Salisbury University, where she taught for thirty-six years. Prior teaching included two years (1970-1972) at Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville VA, and four years (1973-1977) at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. She received her B.A. and first M.A. in History from North Carolina Central University in Durham, and her second M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After starting her Doctorate at the University of Missouri, Dr. Small began working at Salisbury University in 1977 (then Salisbury State University), and completed her Doctorate in History at the University of Delaware. She has taught Racism and Discrimination; Civil Rights in American Society; Minority Groups; African American History; Readings in African American History; American Colonial History; United States History; Oral History; and World Civilizations.
Dr. Small’s article, “Abolitionists, Free Blacks, and Runaway Slaves” was included in the book, A History of African-Americans on Maryland’s and Delaware’s Eastern Shore. She authored a book entitled, Reality Check: Brief Biographies of African-Americans on Delmarva, which was published by the Salisbury [State] University Press and placed in all of the schools and libraries in the surrounding counties. Dr. Small co-authored with Rev. David Briddell, “Men of Color, To Arms!: Manumitted Slaves and Free Blacks from the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland Who Served in the Civil War,”(2010). Her other publications include: Compass Points: Profiles and Biographies of African Americans from the Delmarva Peninsula, Vol. 1, (2014) which presents the history of 56 African Americans who made a lasting impact on this country’s history; co-authored with Teresa M. Neild, They Wore Blue and Their Hearts Were Loyal: The United States Colored Troops of Dorchester County, Maryland, Slaves and Free Blacks Who Served in the Civil War (2016); and Compass Points: Profiles and Biographies of African Americans From the Delmarva Peninsula, Vol. II, (2017).
Dr. Small is presently researching the history of African Americans on the Eastern Shore utilizing oral history, official documents, and other sources and is currently serving on the (governor appointed) Governor’s Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of the History and Legacy of Slavery in Maryland. In 2011, she was also appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture by Governor O’Malley.
Dr. Small has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the University System of Maryland Regents’ Award for Public Service, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore’s Frank H. Morris Humanitarian Award, the Faithful Service Award from Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Society for the Social Sciences, and the Harriet Tubman Lifetime Achievement Award. Since 2011, she has served as Second Vice- President of Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Society for the Social Sciences.
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