Carolyn Robertson Payton (May 13, 1925 - April 11, 2001) was appointed Director of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Peace Corps

Peace Corps

The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...

 in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

. She was the first female and the first African American to be Peace Corps Director. Payton was a pioneer in black women’s leadership within the American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association

The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...

 and psychology.

Early life and education

She was born Carolyn Robertson in Norfolk, Virginia in 1925. Her father, Leroy Solomon Robertson, was a chef and her mother, Bertha Flanagan Robertson, a seamstress and homemaker. Payton came from a close knit family that emphasized the value of education. Her grandfather, although born into slavery, saw to it that all of his children attended college. Payton enrolled at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1941 majoring in home economics and graduated in 1945. Payton said that Bennett, a small historically Black women’s college, shaped her aspirations, attitudes, and expectations and gave her a sense of her capabilities as a woman. She remained close to Bennett College

Bennett College

Bennett College is a four-year liberal arts women's college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 1873, this historically black institution began as a normal school to provide education to newly emancipated slaves. It became a women's college in 1926 and currently serves roughly 780...

 during her entire life and established a scholarship fund there in the late 1990s.

Payton transferred to the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 for her M.S. degree in clinical psychology in 1948. Under the "separate-but-equal" doctrine, the state of Virginia covered her expenses at the out-of-state school because she pursued a graduate degree in a discipline available to White students at a White state schools, but unavailable to Blacks at a Black state school. Payton conducted her masters thesis on the then newly developed Wechsler

David Wechsler

David "Wex" Wechsler was a leading American psychologist. He developed well-known intelligence scales, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children .-Biography:...

-Bellevue

Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...

 Test of Intelligence and concluded that the test provided an inaccurate measure of the true ability of Blacks.
While at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Payton married Raymond Rudolph Payton, a police detective, but the marriage lasted less than four years and the two divorced in 1951. Payton began taking summer courses at Columbia University's teachers college in 1952 and received her Ed.D. in counseling and student administration in 1962.

Academic career

Payton began her first job as an instructor in psychology at Livingstone College

Livingstone College

Livingstone College is a private, historically black, four-year college in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church...

 in Salisbury, North Carolina in 1948 and worked there for five years. In 1953 she became Dean of Women and a psychology instructor at Elizabeth City State Teachers College (now Elizabeth City University) in North Carolina. In 1956, Payton became an associate professor of psychology at Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia. Payton was appointed an assistant professor in psychology at Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

in 1959.

After leaving the Peace Corps in 1978, Payton returned to Howard University where she was appointed Dean of Counseling and Career Development and later Director of University Counseling Services. As Dean she helped develop an internship-training center. Payton retired from Howard in 1995.