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As a child in Georgia, Reatha Clark King picked cotton for $6 a day to help her family make ends meet. Then, buoyed on the hopes and expectations of her family and church, she blazed a trail from a one-room schoolhouse in the segregated South to college.  

She pushed past gender and racial barriers as a Black woman to become a research chemist in the 1960s, contributing to NASA’s moon landing. She went on to become a college dean, university president and a philanthropist and a vice president of a major corporation.  

Earlier this week, she was honored at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota with a reception and celebration of her recent biography, “Find a Trail or Blaze One.”  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Minnesota trailblazer Reatha Clark King about her life. 

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Reatha Clark King faced racism and sexism to become a research scientist in the 1960s and went on to lead Metropolitan State University and become a vice president at General Mills.  MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the Minnesota trailblazer about her life and recent biography.

Trailblazer Reatha Clark King on her journey from chemistry to philanthropy 

Courtesy Reatha Clark King

Two women getting their photo taken while showing a book

Trailblazer Reatha Clark King on her journey from chemistry to philanthropy

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