Margaret Washington Clifford, granddaughter of Booker T. Washington
Rob Cibik
Sep 10, 2009
thetuskegeenews.com
Margaret Washington Clifford, one of only two surviving granddaughters
of Booker T. Washington, died last week in Atlanta. Clifford turned 88
on Monday, August 31.
A service for Mrs. Clifford will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Saint
Luke�s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, her home church. She will be buried
following a rain-or-shine graveside service Monday, September 14, at 1
p.m. at the Tuskegee University Historic Cemetery located outside the
University Chapel.
�The Tuskegee University family is deeply saddened,� said Dr. Benjamin
F. Payton, Tuskegee University President. �We will keep the Washington
family in our prayers during this difficult time. Mrs. Clifford was a
strong supporter of the University, of me and my family, and of my
administration.�
Clifford, the second daughter of Booker T. Washington and Edith
Washington Shehee, was born in Chicago in 1921. She was educated at
Tuskegee University from kindergarten through her first master�s degree
in education and later attended Atlanta University, where she earned a
second master�s degree in counseling and guidance.
While in Tuskegee, Mrs. Clifford taught at Tuskegee Institute High
School and worked on the Tuskegee University campus.
Clifford received additional graduate education in administration and
supervision from California State University, San Francisco State
University and the University of California at Berkeley. She served as a
teacher, counselor and vice president in California schools before
returning to Atlanta University in 1976 to teach. Clifford retired from
Atlanta University in 1986.
Clifford was a life member of the Phi Delta Kappa international
organization, whose purpose is to promote quality education worldwide.
She also held membership in Delta Kappa Gamma International Honor
Society for women teachers, the American Association for Counseling and
Development, the American Association of University Women, the National
Council of Negro Women, the Southeastern Psychological Association and
other organizations.
Clifford was an active member of Saint Luke�s Episcopal Church in
Atlanta where she served on the Usher�s Board, Daughters of the King and
the Church Newsletter Board.
She was the Basilus of Beta Xi Omega, the Alpha Xi Alpha Tuskegee
chapter, and niece of AXA founder Sarah Meriwether Nutter.
Clifford was also an entrepreneur. In 1981 she reopened the Washington
Candy Company, which was started in Tuskegee by her mother in 1922 and
continued until her mother�s death in 1968.
Clifford was the widow of the late Dr. Paul I. Clifford, mother of the
late Luke Cabiness and sister of the late Louise Washington O�Neal and
Edith Washington Johnson. She is survived by her children, Marshal Abuwi
and Robin C. Banks, and her sister Gloria Jackson Baskin.
http://www.thetuskegeenews.com/articles/2009/09/10/news/doc4aa7eaab0b2a8886392517.txt
Hoodoo
Margaret Clifford, granddaughter of Booker T. Washington
By Rick Badie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/news/margaret-clifford-granddaughter-of-136069.html
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00249/104183889_-1_249783c.jpg
Margaret Clifford retired as an Atlanta University professor. A portrait
of her famous grandfather is in the background.
October through December was candy-making time at Margaret Clifford�s home.
Fall provided the ideal temperature for chocolate to settle just so.
Sweets from Washington Candy Co. were shipped worldwide during the holidays.
Mrs. Clifford�s late mother founded the business in Tuskegee, Ala., in
1922. Mrs. Clifford re-established it in 1981, keeping a promise to
carry on.
For Mrs. Clifford, fulfiling that pledge reflected traits she considered
the pillar of any community. They also were the ideals her grandfather �
Booker T. Washington Jr. � promoted a century ago as the most
influential black leader in America.
And they were the cornerstone of numerous presentations Mrs. Clifford
made to local schools and organizations about the founder of Tuskegee
University. Her message, said a daughter, Robin Banks of Atlanta,
complemented her grandfather�s � will your way to greatness.
In 2004, Mrs. Clifford said so herself in an interview with the National
Visionary Leadership Project, a nonprofit that preserves the history of
extraordinary black Americans.
�Honesty, thrift, character � those are the kinds of things he so
strongly believed in,� she said at the time.
Margaret Washington Clifford, 88, of Atlanta died Saturday of heart
failure at Emory University Hospital. The funeral will be 11 a.m.
Saturday at St. Luke�s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Murray Brothers
Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Born in Chicago, Mrs. Clifford moved with her family to Tuskegee. She
attended the university � then called Tuskegee Institute � from
kindergarten through college. She was a high school graduate at 16; she
graduated from college in three years, earning a master�s degree in
education. She earned a second master�s degree at Atlanta University.
In California, she was a teacher and administrator for Oakland Public
Schools. In 1976, she became a counselor at Atlanta University. Mrs.
Clifford was active at St. Luke�s Episcopal Church. She belonged to
various groups, including the National Council of Negro Women, and the
Inquirers Club, one of the oldest African-American book clubs in the
country.
Melba Hughes of Atlanta knew Mrs. Clifford nearly 20 years. When Mrs.
Hughes� daughter married, the bridge lover offered to provide party
favors. �She had a sincere love for other people,� Mrs. Hughes said.
�She had a generous and caring spirit.�
She married Paul Clifford, himself the grandchild of a civil rights
pioneer � J.R. Clifford � who had been aligned with Booker T. Washington
Jr.�s critics and had, with W.E.B. DuBois, founded the Niagara Movement,
forerunner of the NAACP.
Margaret and Paul liked to joke about their grandfathers� disagreements.
Additional survivors include a son, Marshall �Butch� Abuwi of Augusta; a
sister, Gloria Jackson Baskin of Los Angeles; five grandchildren; and
three great-grandchildren.
--
"Think with your dipstick, Jimmy."