Blacks@Dartmouth 1775 to 1960

Garvey Elliott Clarke emigrated with his family from Barbados to Brooklyn, NY, and devoted his life to furthering educational opportunities for minority students. Raised in an urban environment, Garvey nonetheless found Dartmouth to be a perfect setting for his college career. He was one of twenty-one African Americans on campus. During his years, the student body passed a referendum banning fraternities that did not sever ties to national organizations with restrictive covenants excluding African American and Jewish students.

After Dartmouth, Garvey completed law studies at New York Law School and first worked for the National Broadcasting Company. He then began a life-long career in advancing educational opportunities for students of color. From 1989 to 1999, he served as president of Leadership, Education And Development (LEAD), which identified outstanding minority students for future careers in business. Garvey also led capital resources development for the United Negro College Fund, was president of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, and was an officer of A Better Chance. Early in his career, Garvey was president of the young adult group in St. Mark’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem, New York. With his wife and partner, Yvonne, Garvey also co-founded the Stuyford Action Council, a grant-funded program formed to improve the educational opportunities for youth in Bedford Stuyvesant. Garvey headed the young adult group at Greater Centennial AME Zion Church in Mount Vernon.

Garvey served on the Boys Club of New York and the Choate Rosemary Hall School boards. At Dartmouth, Garvey has been an Alumni Councilor, co-founder, president, secretary of the Black Alumni Association (BADA), class agent, and Executive Committee member of the Association of Alumni. The highlight of Garvey’s alumni career was in May 2001, when he was presented with the Alumni Award for outstanding service to the college. In retirement, he served as president of the Dartmouth Club of Sarasota/Manatee and on the board of directors for the Association of Retired Attorneys of Sarasota, Inc. He is a member of the Gamma Xi Boule Chapter in Sarasota.