Kenneth and Mamie Clark
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Bancroft Clark (July 14, 1914 – May 1, 2005) and Mamie Phipps Clark (April 18, 1917 – August 11, 1983) were African-American psychologist
s who as a married team conducted important research among children and were active in the Civil Rights Movement
. They founded the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem and the organization Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
(HARYOU). Kenneth Clark also was an educator and professor at City College of New York
, and first Black president of the American Psychological Association
.
They were known for their 1940s experiments using doll
s to study children's attitudes about race. The Clarks testified as expert witness
es in Briggs v. Elliott
, one of the cases rolled into Brown v. Board of Education
(1954). The Clarks' work contributed to the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in which it determined that de jure
racial segregation
in public education
was unconstitutional. Chief Justice
Earl Warren
wrote in the Brown v. Board opinion, “To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone”.
, to Harold and Katie Phipps. Her father was a doctor
, a native of the British West Indies
. Her mother helped him in his practice and encouraged both their children in education. Her brother became a dentist
.
Phipps entered Howard University
as a physics
and mathematics
major
, but future husband and partner Kenneth Clark persuaded her to switch; she earned her B.A.
magna cum laude in psychology
(1938). They began their lifelong partnership and married in 1937. Both went on for additional study at Columbia University
.
In 1943 Mamie Phipps Clark was one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D.
in psychology from Columbia University
.
At the end of World War II
, Kenneth and Mamie Clark decided to try to improve social services for troubled youth in Harlem, as there were virtually no mental-health services in the community. Kenneth Clark was then an assistant professor at the City College of New York
and Mamie Clark was a psychological consultant doing psychological testing at the Riverdale Children's Association, Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark approached social service agencies in New York City to urge them to expand their programs to provide social work
, psychological evaluation
, and remediation for youth in Harlem. None of the agencies took up their proposal. The Clarks "realized that we were not going to get a child guidance clinic
opened that way. So we decided to open it ourselves."
Together in 1946 the Clarks created the Northside Center for Child Development, originally called the Northside Testing and Consultation Center. They started it in a one-room basement apartment of the Dunbar Houses on 158th Street (Manhattan)]. Two years later in 1948, Northside moved to 110th Street
, across from Central Park
, on the sixth floor of what was then the New Lincoln School. In 1974, Northside moved to its current quarters in Schomburg Plaza. It continues to serve Harlem children and their families in the 21st century.
Their goal was to match or surpass the quality of service for poor African Americans. It served as a location for initial experiments on racial biases of education and the intersection of education and varying theories and practices of psychology and social psychology.
The center recently celebrated its 60th anniversary of service to the Harlem community. The clinic provides therapeutic and educational support for children ages 5 to 17 and their families. Services include: diagnostic evaluations; individual, group, and family therapy; crisis intervention; tutoring and homework help; after school recreational and cultural activities; and parent education groups.
Mamie remained the Director of the Northside Center for 33 years. Upon her retirement, Dora Johnson, a staff member at Northside, captured the importance of Mamie Clark to Northside. “Mamie Clark embodied the center. In a very real way, it was her views, philosophy, and her soul that held the center together”. She went on to say that “when an unusual and unique person pursues a dream and realizes that dream and directs that dream, people are drawn not only to the idea of the dream, but to the uniqueness of the person themselves.” Her vision of social, economic, and psychological advancement of African American children resonates far beyond the era of integration.
to Arthur Bancroft Clark and Miriam Hanson Clark. His father worked as an agent for the United Fruit Company
. When he was five, his parents separated and his mother took him and his younger sister Beulah to the U.S. to live in Harlem
in New York City
. She worked as a seamstress in a sweatshop
, where she later organized
a union
and became a shop steward for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
Clark attended Howard University
, a historically black university (HBCU), where he first studied political science with professors including Ralph J. Bunche. He returned in 1935 for a master's in psychology. Dr. Clark was a distinguished member of Kappa Alpha Psi
fraternity.
While studying psychology for his doctorate at Columbia University, Clark did research in support of the study of race relations by Swedish
economist
Gunnar Myrdal
, who wrote An American Dilemma
. In 1940, Clark was the first African American to earn a Ph.D.
in psychology from Columbia University.
In 1942 Kenneth Clark became the first African-American tenured full professor at the City College of New York
. In 1966 he was the first African American appointed to the New York State Board of Regents
and the first African American to be president of the American Psychological Association
.
Clark in 1962 was among the founders of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
(HARYOU), an organization devoted to developing educational and job opportunities. It recruited educational experts to help to reorganize Harlem schools, create preschool classes, tutor older students after school, and job opportunities for youth who dropped out. The Johnson administration earmarked more than $100 million for the organization. When it was placed under the administration of a pet project of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
in 1964, the two men clashed over appointment of a director and its direction.
Clark used HARYOU to press for changes to the educational system to help improve black children's performance. While he at first supported decentralization of city schools, after a decade of experience, Clark believed that this option had not been able to make an appreciable difference and described the experiment as a "disaster."
Following race riots in the summer of 1967, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission
). The Commission called Clark among the first experts to testify on urban issues. In 1973, Clark testified in the trial of Ruchell Magee
.
Clark retired from City College in 1975, but remained an active advocate for integration throughout his life. He opposed separatists and argued for high standards in education, continuing to work for children's benefit. He consulted to city school systems across the country, and argued that all children should learn to use Standard English in school.
Clark died in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
in May 2005, over twenty years after his beloved partner Mamie.
thesis. They published three major papers between 1939 and 1940 on children's self perception related to race. Their studies found contrasts among children attending segregated schools
in Washington, DC versus those in integrated schools in New York. They found that black children often preferred to play with white dolls over black; that, asked to fill in a human figure with the color of their own skin, they frequently chose a lighter shade than was accurate; and that the children gave the color "white" attributes such as good and pretty, but "black" was qualified as bad and ugly. They viewed the results as evidence that the children had internalized racism
caused by being discriminated against and stigmatized by segregation.
The Clarks testified as expert witnesses in several school desegregation cases, including Briggs v. Elliott
, which was later combined into the famous Brown v. Board of Education
(1954). In 1954, Clark and Isidor Chein
wrote a brief the purpose of which was to supply evidence in the Brown v. Board of Education case underlining the damaging effects racial segregation
had on African American children. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public education
was unconstitutional.
In 2006 filmmaker Kiri Davis
recreated the doll study and documented it in a film entitled A Girl Like Me
. Despite the many changes in some parts of society, Davis found the same results as did the Drs. Clark in their study of the late 1930s and early 1940s.
, Hilton was a leader of the Society of Afro-American Students; his father negotiated between them and the university administration. Kate Clark Harris directed the Northside Center for Child Development for four years after her mother's death.
A 60 Minutes
report in the 1970s noted that Clark, who supported integration and desegregation busing, moved to Westchester County in 1950 because of his concern about failing public schools in the city. Clark said: "My children have only one life and I could not risk that."
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
s who as a married team conducted important research among children and were active in the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. They founded the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem and the organization Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU, was a social activism organization founded by Dr. Kenneth Clark in 1962 and directed by Cyril DeGrasse Tyson . The group worked to increase opportunities in education and employment for young blacks in Harlem...
(HARYOU). Kenneth Clark also was an educator and professor at City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, and first Black president of 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...
.
They were known for their 1940s experiments using doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
s to study children's attitudes about race. The Clarks testified as expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
es in Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., , commonly Briggs v. Elliott, was the first of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education , the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court officially overturned racial segregation in U.S. public schools...
, one of the cases rolled into Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
(1954). The Clarks' work contributed to the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in which it determined that de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
was unconstitutional. Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
wrote in the Brown v. Board opinion, “To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone”.
Mamie Phipps Clark
The daughter of an educated family, Mamie Phipps was born in Hot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
, to Harold and Katie Phipps. Her father was a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, a native of the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
. Her mother helped him in his practice and encouraged both their children in education. Her brother became a dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
.
Phipps entered 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...
as a physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
major
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
, but future husband and partner Kenneth Clark persuaded her to switch; she earned her B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
magna cum laude in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
(1938). They began their lifelong partnership and married in 1937. Both went on for additional study at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
In 1943 Mamie Phipps Clark was one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in psychology from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
At the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Kenneth and Mamie Clark decided to try to improve social services for troubled youth in Harlem, as there were virtually no mental-health services in the community. Kenneth Clark was then an assistant professor at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
and Mamie Clark was a psychological consultant doing psychological testing at the Riverdale Children's Association, Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark approached social service agencies in New York City to urge them to expand their programs to provide social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
, psychological evaluation
Psychological evaluation
A psychological evaluation or mental examination is an examination into a person's mental health by a mental health professional such as a psychologist. A psychological evaluation may result in a diagnosis of a mental illness...
, and remediation for youth in Harlem. None of the agencies took up their proposal. The Clarks "realized that we were not going to get a child guidance clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
opened that way. So we decided to open it ourselves."
Together in 1946 the Clarks created the Northside Center for Child Development, originally called the Northside Testing and Consultation Center. They started it in a one-room basement apartment of the Dunbar Houses on 158th Street (Manhattan)]. Two years later in 1948, Northside moved to 110th Street
110th Street (Manhattan)
110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, it is also known as Cathedral Parkway....
, across from Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, on the sixth floor of what was then the New Lincoln School. In 1974, Northside moved to its current quarters in Schomburg Plaza. It continues to serve Harlem children and their families in the 21st century.
Their goal was to match or surpass the quality of service for poor African Americans. It served as a location for initial experiments on racial biases of education and the intersection of education and varying theories and practices of psychology and social psychology.
The center recently celebrated its 60th anniversary of service to the Harlem community. The clinic provides therapeutic and educational support for children ages 5 to 17 and their families. Services include: diagnostic evaluations; individual, group, and family therapy; crisis intervention; tutoring and homework help; after school recreational and cultural activities; and parent education groups.
Mamie remained the Director of the Northside Center for 33 years. Upon her retirement, Dora Johnson, a staff member at Northside, captured the importance of Mamie Clark to Northside. “Mamie Clark embodied the center. In a very real way, it was her views, philosophy, and her soul that held the center together”. She went on to say that “when an unusual and unique person pursues a dream and realizes that dream and directs that dream, people are drawn not only to the idea of the dream, but to the uniqueness of the person themselves.” Her vision of social, economic, and psychological advancement of African American children resonates far beyond the era of integration.
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Clark was born in the Panama Canal ZonePanama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
to Arthur Bancroft Clark and Miriam Hanson Clark. His father worked as an agent for the United Fruit Company
United Fruit Company
It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...
. When he was five, his parents separated and his mother took him and his younger sister Beulah to the U.S. to live in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She worked as a seamstress in a sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
, where she later organized
Union organizer
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers....
a union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
and became a shop steward for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
Clark attended 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...
, a historically black university (HBCU), where he first studied political science with professors including Ralph J. Bunche. He returned in 1935 for a master's in psychology. Dr. Clark was a distinguished member of Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...
fraternity.
While studying psychology for his doctorate at Columbia University, Clark did research in support of the study of race relations by Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
Gunnar Myrdal
Gunnar Myrdal
Karl Gunnar Myrdal was a Swedish Nobel Laureate economist, sociologist, and politician. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the...
, who wrote An American Dilemma
An American Dilemma
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy is a 1944 study of race relations authored by Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal and funded by The Carnegie Foundation. The foundation chose Myrdal because it thought that as a non-American, he could offer a more unbiased opinion...
. In 1940, Clark was the first African American to earn a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in psychology from Columbia University.
In 1942 Kenneth Clark became the first African-American tenured full professor at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
. In 1966 he was the first African American appointed to the New York State Board of Regents
University of the State of New York
The University of the State of New York is the State of New York's governmental umbrella organization responsible for most institutions and people in any way connected with formal educational functions, public and private, in New York State...
and the first African American to be president of 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...
.
Clark in 1962 was among the founders of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU, was a social activism organization founded by Dr. Kenneth Clark in 1962 and directed by Cyril DeGrasse Tyson . The group worked to increase opportunities in education and employment for young blacks in Harlem...
(HARYOU), an organization devoted to developing educational and job opportunities. It recruited educational experts to help to reorganize Harlem schools, create preschool classes, tutor older students after school, and job opportunities for youth who dropped out. The Johnson administration earmarked more than $100 million for the organization. When it was placed under the administration of a pet project of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem, New York City, in the United States House of Representatives . He was the first person of African-American descent elected to Congress from New York and became a powerful national politician...
in 1964, the two men clashed over appointment of a director and its direction.
Clark used HARYOU to press for changes to the educational system to help improve black children's performance. While he at first supported decentralization of city schools, after a decade of experience, Clark believed that this option had not been able to make an appreciable difference and described the experiment as a "disaster."
Following race riots in the summer of 1967, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission
Kerner Commission
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide...
). The Commission called Clark among the first experts to testify on urban issues. In 1973, Clark testified in the trial of Ruchell Magee
Marin County courthouse incident
The Marin County courthouse incident was an event which occurred on August 7, 1970, when African American radical Jonathan Jackson attempted to negotiate the freedom of the Soledad Brothers by kidnapping Superior Court judge Harold Haley from the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California...
.
Clark retired from City College in 1975, but remained an active advocate for integration throughout his life. He opposed separatists and argued for high standards in education, continuing to work for children's benefit. He consulted to city school systems across the country, and argued that all children should learn to use Standard English in school.
Clark died in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in the southwest part of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 7,849. It lies on U.S. Route 9, "Broadway" in Hastings...
in May 2005, over twenty years after his beloved partner Mamie.
Books
- Prejudice and Your Child (1955)
- Dark Ghetto (1965)
- A Possible Reality (1972)
- Pathos of Power (1975)
Doll experiments
The Clarks' doll experiments grew out of Mamie Clark's master's degreeMaster's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
thesis. They published three major papers between 1939 and 1940 on children's self perception related to race. Their studies found contrasts among children attending segregated schools
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
in Washington, DC versus those in integrated schools in New York. They found that black children often preferred to play with white dolls over black; that, asked to fill in a human figure with the color of their own skin, they frequently chose a lighter shade than was accurate; and that the children gave the color "white" attributes such as good and pretty, but "black" was qualified as bad and ugly. They viewed the results as evidence that the children had internalized racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
caused by being discriminated against and stigmatized by segregation.
The Clarks testified as expert witnesses in several school desegregation cases, including Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., , commonly Briggs v. Elliott, was the first of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education , the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court officially overturned racial segregation in U.S. public schools...
, which was later combined into the famous Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
(1954). In 1954, Clark and Isidor Chein
Isidor Chein
Isidor Chein was a psychologist who conducted research on minority group identification. He co-wrote an amicus curiae brief in the Brown v. Board of Education case. He earned a bachelor's degree from City College in 1932 and a doctorate from Columbia University in 1939.Chein's research was mainly...
wrote a brief the purpose of which was to supply evidence in the Brown v. Board of Education case underlining the damaging effects racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
had on African American children. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
was unconstitutional.
In 2006 filmmaker Kiri Davis
Kiri Davis
Kiri Laurelle Davis is an African-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her first documentary, done while enrolled at Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, A Girl Like Me has received significant news coverage....
recreated the doll study and documented it in a film entitled A Girl Like Me
A Girl Like Me (documentary)
A Girl like Me is a 2005 award-winning documentary by Kiri Davis. The seven-minute documentary examines such things as the importance of color, hair and facial features for young African American women. It won the Diversity Award at the 6th Annual Media That Matters film festival in New York City,...
. Despite the many changes in some parts of society, Davis found the same results as did the Drs. Clark in their study of the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Family
The Clarks had two children: a son Hilton and daughter Kate. During the Columbia University protests of 1968Columbia University protests of 1968
The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United...
, Hilton was a leader of the Society of Afro-American Students; his father negotiated between them and the university administration. Kate Clark Harris directed the Northside Center for Child Development for four years after her mother's death.
A 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
report in the 1970s noted that Clark, who supported integration and desegregation busing, moved to Westchester County in 1950 because of his concern about failing public schools in the city. Clark said: "My children have only one life and I could not risk that."
Legacy and honors
- 1961 – Kenneth Clark received the Spingarn MedalSpingarn MedalThe Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for outstanding achievement by an African American....
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNational Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP) for his contributions to promoting integration and better race relations. - 1966 – Columbia University awarded each Clark the Nicholas Murray Butler Silver Medal, for the significance of their work
- 1970 – Kenneth B. Clark was awarded an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) by Columbia University
- 1994 - 102nd annual meeting of APA, 40 years after Brown v. Board of Education, Dr. Clark was presented with the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology. He was only one of six psychologist to receive that prestigious award.
- 2002 – Molefi Kete AsanteMolefi Kete AsanteMolefi Kete Asante is an African-American scholar, historian, and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African American studies, African Studies and Communication Studies...
named Kenneth Clark on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans100 Greatest African Americans100 Greatest African Americans is a biographical dictionary of the one hundred historically greatest African Americans , as assessed by Molefi Kete Asante in 2002.-Criteria:...
.
Further reading
- Clark, K.B. The Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power (New York: Harper & Row, 1965).
- Guthrie, R. 1976. Even the rat was white, New York: Harper and Row.
- Abbott, Shirley. “Mamie Phipps Clark, a Hot Springs Woman Who ‘overcame the odds.’” The Record 47 (2006): 15–22.
- O’Connell, Agnes N., and Nancy Felipe Russo, eds. Models of Achievement: Reflections of Eminent Women in Psychology. New York: Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1983. - Tussman, Joseph, ed. The Supreme Court on Racial Discrimination. New York: Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1963. - Warren, Wini. Black Women Scientists in the United States. BloomingtonBloomington, IndianaBloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
: Indiana University PressIndiana University PressIndiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana....
, 1999.
External links
- Notable New Yorkers – Kenneth Clark, Oral History Research Office at Columbia University.
- Notable New Yorkers – Mamie Clark, Oral History Research Office at Columbia University.
- Dr. Kenneth Clark interviewed on the WGBH series The Ten O'Clock News in 1988