Born in 1914, Rogie Clark was a graduate of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia (1935), and continued his studies as the Julliard School of Music, Chicago Musical College, Berkshire Music Center, and received an M.A. from Columbia University (1942). He edited several collections of Negro folk songs; "Copper Sun" (1957), and compiled "Negro Art Songs" (1946). His textbooks for schools include: "Afro - America Sings" (1971) and "Afro - American Six Series." Clark wrote spiritual arrangements for solo voice and chorus. Clark contributed articles, plays, and poems to the field of Negro folk music and was awarded a fellowship to do research in Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad. He held teaching positions at Fort Valley State College, Jackson State College, and Central State College. Edgar Rogie Clark died in 1978.