John Gibbs St. Clair Drake was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 2, 1911. Later in life, including professionally, he went by his last name only, St. Clair Drake. His father immigrated to the United States from Barbados in the British West Indies, becoming a Baptist minister and an international organizer for Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.
John Gibbs St. Clair Drake was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 2, 1911. In his later life, professionally as well as personally, he went by the name St. Clair Drake only. His father emigrated from Barbados to the United States and became a Baptist minister and an organizer for Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.