Introduction
Robert E. Clay (1875-1961) was an African-American educator.
Biography
Robert E. Clay was born on June 25, 1875, in Bristol, Virginia. He worked at the National Negro Business League alongside Booker T. Washington until the latter's death in 1915.
In 1917, he became a State Rosenwald School Agent in Tennessee, where he helped build 501 Rosenwald schools. He received a B.S. from Tennessee A & I State College in 1932. He later led the Sunday school at his alma mater. He worked as a State Developer of Negro Education from 1937 to 1955, when he retired.
He was a member of the Interracial League of Tennessee Commission of Race Relations, the National Youth Administration, and the State Better Homes Movement.
In 1968, a building on the Tennessee State University campus was named after him.