she was taking classes in the morning, teaching from noon to five in the afternoons, and taking more classes in the evenings. She was earning $62.50 per month in college and every summer she traveled to Maine to earn more money. The NAACP in Columbia, SC, had approximately 800 members and all were black. The biggest NAACP impact during Clark's time in Columbia was they sponsored a suit that won the equalization of teacher salaries. It was a huge win for the NAACP. In 1947, Clark returned to Charleston to take care of her mother who had had a stroke. While caring for her mother, Clark's role as an educator and activist did not subside. During this time, she taught in the Charleston public schools, she was active with the YWCA, and served as membership chairperson of the Charleston NAACP. The YWCA was one of the few organizations in Charleston that was interracial. There were black and white branches. In 1956, Clark obtained the position of vice president of the Charleston NAACP branch. That same year, the South Carolina legislature passed a law banning city or state employees from being involved with civil rights organizations. Clark believed that a combination of relations, such as social and power relations, were a major contributor to schooling. Clark was upfront in her refusal to leave the NAACP, and was thus fired from her job by the Charleston City School Board, losing her pension after 40 years employment. She soon found that no school in Charleston would hire her. A black teachers' sorority held a fundraiser for her benefit, but no member would have their picture taken with her, fearing that they would lose their own jobs. Highlander Folk School literacy courses Around this time, Clark was active with the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. She first attended a workshop there in 1954. Myles Horton, the founder of Highlander, quickly hired her as the full-time director of workshops. Before long she was teaching literacy courses, drawing on her experience on John's Island. "In a compressed week's workshop, Clark promised to turn sharecroppers and other unschooled Negros into potential voters". Highlander was one of the few interracial schools in the South at the time and Clark prospered as a teacher there. After being fired and unwelcomed in her hometown, Clark found Highlander to be a great community. In 1959, while she was teaching at