Clara L. Payne

(1892–1958) Clara was an active member of a small African American Buffalo community. During World War I Clara served at Marin Hospital as a nurse volunteer during the influenza epidemic of 1917 and 1918. She was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Urban League and remained involved from 1927 until 1958. Clara helped initiate the first integrated YWCA in the Buffalo area. In 1926 she was elected to the Board of Directors and served as a member of the Y's Business Girls' Council and the Inter-racial Committee.

Clara was also involved in Republican party politics. In April 1920 she was reported as one of two organizers of a Leonard Wood Club among African American women in Buffalo. The newspaper account in the Buffalo Evening News of April 16, 1920 noted, "it is hoped to enroll every colored woman in Buffalo in the league." General Leonard Wood was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination that year. *Courtesy AlexanderStreet.com