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<p>This Clarkton house was home to Charles and Birthrights between 1872 and 1917. The Birthrights were formerly enslaved persons who achieved homeownership and a middle-class lifestyle within a predominantly white town. The pair both worked as a barber and seamstress and invested their earnings in agriculture and other industries. Sources indicate that the couple was highly regarded among their predominantly white neighbors and also supported several civic and philanthropic initiatives.</p>

The Charles and Betty Birthright House

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For more than 40 years this house was home to the Birthrights, former slaves who achieved economic independence and prosperity while building close ties with the families that had held them in slavery and the predominantly white citizenry of Clarkerton and Dunklin Counties. This barber and seamstress amassed substantial wealth from highly successful commercial and farming operations. 


Though not civil rights activists in the common definition of the phrase, the couple's economic and civic contributions to Clarkton and Dunklin County contradicted the popular image of Blacks as indolent, undisciplined and unworthy of the full rights of American citizens. The Birthrights represent an aspect of history rarely studied in Missouri or the United States&mdash;African Americans who were well respected and accepted members of the larger white community during a period when racism was the social norm. The period of significance is 1872 -1917, the time span during which the Birthrights owned and lived in the house and made their greatest contributions to the local community.

The Charles and Betty Birthright House

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