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Sumner H. Lark ’16 (1874–1931)
Lark was one of the first African Americans appointed Assistant D.A. in New York and a trailblazing attorney, editor, and civic leader. Born in Hamburg, South Carolina, he attended the Haines Institute, earned his B.A. from Howard, and then moved to Brooklyn in 1900, where he started a printing business and founded The Brooklyn Eye, which the Howard University Record said “attracted unusual attention because of the support that it gave to the Democratic Party.” According to BLS: “While still a law student, in 1915, he wrote in an essay in the souvenir program to accompany a national exhibition commemorating the achievements of African Americans in the 50 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation that for black people to enjoy the full measure of citizenship, some needed to become lawyers.” In that essay Lark wrote “He who would have liberty, must be vigilant; he who would get his rights, must have a lawyer.” Lark was appointed Deputy Assistant D.A. in 1923 and was celebrated as “the first member of his race to serve on the staff of the District Attorney” though later historians correct that Rufus L. Perry had briefly preceded him in that role. He also created “Larksburg,” a Black summer colony and vocational-training site in Putnam Valley, remembered as “a pioneering experiment in self-sufficiency and education.”