3. Who Is "Wilkie Clark's Daughter"?
About Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson
I am Wilkie Clark’s daughter — born into a legacy of resistance, raised in the shadow of struggle, and determined to finish the work my parents began.
I run a 57-year-old Black family funeral home in rural Alabama — a business my father carved out against impossible odds after facing repeated denials, discrimination, and structural barriers designed to keep him out. He built it anyway. And I’ve spent my life protecting what he built.
I am a funeral director, a historian, a writer, an educator, and a keeper of names too often erased from the record. I am also the founder of The Wilkie Clark Memorial Foundation and steward of the Clark Historic Landmark Site — a living archive of Black economic courage, civil-rights activism, and community uplift.
This publication is where I tell the truth — the whole truth — about the fights we’re still in.
It’s my platform to document my federal complaints against the Alabama Board of Funeral Service.
It’s where I call out overreach, discrimination, and the systemic targeting of Black funeral home owners.
It’s where I talk about the political battles ahead, the necessity of voting, and why our voices cannot fall silent — not now, not ever.
It’s also where I will share the stories behind the Clark legacy, including never-before-seen archival materials, personal memos, historical photographs, and firsthand accounts that shaped the civil-rights movement in East Alabama.
If you’re looking for a sanitized, tip-toe-around-the-truth kind of publication — this isn’t it.
If you’re looking for a woman who has spent her entire life fighting for justice, preserving history, and refusing to let her community disappear beneath the weight of silence — you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Wilkie Clark’s Daughter.
We’ve got work to do