Clarence Jacobs

Clarence Jacobs was born on October 31, 1941, to Clara Bandy Jacobs and Riley Jacobs. He was the eldest of two children. His younger brother, Lionell Jacobs, preceded him in death at a very young age. Clarence was raised on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended Forestville Elementary School and Dunbar High School. At Dunbar, he was a prominent hurdler on the track team.

During his high school years, Clarence met Audrey Jackson, and the two were married in 1959. Their union was blessed with two daughters, Adrienne Bruce and Carolyn Elaine. Both daughters inherited their father’s creative energy, a gift that has served them well throughout their lives. 

As an artist, Clarence was an active participant in the vibrant arts community on Chicago’s South Side. For several years, he exhibited and sold his paintings at the Lake Meadows 35th Street Arts Festival. In 1967, during Chicago’s Black Arts Movement, Clarence participated in the creation of the historic Wall of Respect. Considered the first large scale outdoor community mural of its kind, the Wall became an important catalyst for a community mural movement that spread across the United States and internationally.

A structured setting and traditional nine to five environment were never a natural fit for Clarence’s free spirit and creative mind. Instead, he pursued a variety of artistic and entrepreneurial endeavors. His work included artistic window displays for Chas. A. Stevens and Marshall Field’s in downtown Chicago, as well as for numerous local businesses along 47th Street in the area now known as the Black Metropolis Bronzeville District. During the 1960s, he also worked in set design at the Harper Theater in Hyde Park, when the venue operated as a live theater and performance space.

Family was extremely important to Clarence. For many years, he shared a kitchenette style home at 4630 South Greenwood Avenue with his mother, grandparents, and uncles. Multigenerational living arrangements such as theirs were common among families who came north from the South during the Great Migration. Clarence took great pride in caring for his family in whatever way he could.

In time, those roles were lovingly reversed. In 2017, Clarence relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to be near his daughter Adrienne and a host of grandchildren and great grandchildren who surrounded him with exceptional love and care.

Mental and physical health challenges over the years sometimes prevented Clarence from living what many might consider a traditional life, but his family made certain that his life remained filled with love, connection, and care. Through it all, Clarence maintained his joy of creating art and listening to the music he loved, especially Miles Davis and John Coltrane. And he remained a good sport through all the laughter, noise, teasing, and shenanigans that came with his grandchildren’s Sunday visits to the nursing home.

Clarence leaves to cherish his memory his two daughters, Adrienne Bruce and Carolyn Elaine; four grandchildren, Antoine Haugabook (Yolanda), Morgan Friend (Lorell), Armella Haqque (Patrick), and Egypt Walker; and nine great grandchildren, Kenneth Haugabook, twins Allana and Arianna Jackson, Aiden Haugabook, Amaya Haugabook, Lorell Friend Jr., Lyric Friend, Aneela Rogers, and Aja Rogers. He also leaves a loving extended family and generations who will carry forward his memory, creativity, and spirit. Clarence lived life in his own way. He was an artist, a free spirit, a father, grandfather, and great grandfather whose creativity found its way not only onto canvases, walls, windows, and stages, but into the generations that followed him