Submitted by Barbara A. Seals Nevergold, PhD, Co-founder of the Uncrowned Queens Institute
Not so long ago, African Americans were still achieving distinction as the “first” in their field of endeavor. As the first in several positions in an educational career that spanned several decades, Claude D. Clapp exemplified an individual blazed a trail for other African American educators in Buffalo. He moved through the ranks to garner historic accomplishments in the city. He and his wife, Ouida, were the first black married couple employed as teachers and he was the first black assistant principal and then the first black principal of a Buffalo Public School. He held both positions at what was then School 29 on South Park Avenue. In 1965, he was appointed as the Director of Finance and Research for the school district. Again, he was the first African American to hold an administrative post within the school district. In 1966, he was named Associate Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools. When he and Ouida retired in 1985, he was Deputy Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools.
During his tenure with the schools, he negotiated every contract with the Buffalo Teachers Federation. At the time of his retirement, the president of the association spoke of the loss of his leadership to the schools as having “incalculable proportions” noting that Claude was a “moderating force, a man of impeccable integrity.” The Buffalo News noted that he “earned a reputation for carefully thought-out decisions and a quiet way of getting things done, as well as a toughness of conviction -tactfulness remains his trademark.”
Claude D. Clapp, the son of Marguerite Mason Clapp Shannon and Claude D. Clapp, was born in Buffalo, New York on January 17, 1921. He attended Buffalo Public Schools and, for one year, Central High School in Louisville, Kentucky where he lived with his uncle, Leroy Mason. He graduated, in 1940, from Fosdick Masten High School in Buffalo, with yearbook notations of Star Roll, Honor Roll, Chronicle, Hill Topics, Football, and Track. He left Buffalo after graduation to attend Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, turning down an athletic scholarship from the University at Buffalo for the academic scholarship awarded to him by Talladega. There he met his wife of fifty-three years, Ouida Eleanor Harrison of Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Celia Juliette Howard Harrison and William L. Harrison, Sr.
World War II intervened during his Talladega years, and like most of the undergraduate men, he was forced to leave college when he was drafted into the United States Army to join the World War II campaign. He became a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps, serving from 1944 to 1946 as administrative staff officer at Tuskegee Air Base with the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Following his honorable discharge in 1947, Claude earned a degree in Mortuary Science from Worsham Mortuarial College in Illinois. He had intended on following in the footsteps of his uncle, Leroy Mason, who had established Mason and Sons Funeral Home in Louisville, Kentucky. When he married Ouida Harrison on July 20th, 1947, the marriage license listed his occupation as “mortician”. However, when the newlyweds returned from their Detroit wedding to Buffalo, he made the decision to continue his education earning a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in education administration from the University at Buffalo.
Two daughters were born during those years before he began his long and distinguished career as an educator and administration: Karen Andrea in 1948 and Karla Francesca in 1949. To support the family while he was in school, he worked at Don Allen Chevrolet, the Buffalo Transit Authority and Cornel Labs. In 1953 both Claude and Ouida earned eligibility for Buffalo public school appointments, and he was appointed a teacher at School 6. Three years later, in 1955, Leslie Ellen, the couple’s third daughter was born.
To read more about Claude and Ouida Clapp, visit Uncrowned Community Builders at www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com
The Friends of the Buffalo Story is involved in a yearlong project whose mission is to uncover and reveal the heritage-based stories of people who live along the Ferry Street Corridor. As part of this effort “The Friends” is working very closely with community-groups, who have been doing this work for many years. None has done this more effectively and diligently than the uncrowned queens institute for research & education on women, inc.
We are proud to be collaborating with them to bring you this ongoing feature during the month of February, which focuses on some of the “uncrowned community builders” who have done so much to strengthen the African-American community of Buffalo’s East Side as well as the region.
For more on African American Community Builders visit our website at: www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com
Additional “uncrowned community builders” are as follows:
rev. j. edward nash – a legendary buffalo pastor
eva noles – nurse, historian, pioneer
mary lee crosby chappelle – sage of the ages
john edmonston brent – master builder
hester c. jeffrey – advocate of women’s suffrage movement
thelma ayers hardiman – stalwart supporter of buffalo
willie brown seals – minister, musician, photographer
james a. ross – newspaperman, exposition promoter, businessman
amelia grace anderson: teacher and club woman
james henry stansil: rescued work of elizabeth keckley
cora p. maloney: buffalo’s 1st african american female common council member
Marshall Miles – Buffalo’s Connection to Boxing Royalty