Dr. Kenneth Clark (1914-2005)

An African-American psychologist, Dr. Kenneth B. Clark was a Civil Rights leader who used social science to combat racial segregation. He earned a bachelor and masters degree from Howard University and then went on to be the first African-American to earn a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University, and the first to get tenure in the City College system of New York. He was also elected to the New York State Board of Regents and was influential in New York politics. Throughout his life he fought any form of segregation, believing that it, "inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, black and white alike." (NYT, 2 May 2005). He was the author of numerous books, including: "Dark Ghetto" (1965); "A Relevant War Against Poverty" (1969); "A Possible Reality," (1972); and "Pathos of Power" (1974). He remained outspoken and involved in civil rights issues till the end of his life. Dr. Clark died in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. in 2005.

Civil Rights Era

In 1939 Dr. Clark and his wife, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark, began a series of studies on the effects of racial segregation on black children. These studies used black and white dolls to gauge how the children perceived themselves. Dr Clark concluded that, "These children saw themselves as inferior, and they accepted the inferiority as part of reality," (NYT, 2 May 2005). Dr Clark's research on the effect of segregation and racism on young, black children was used by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Chief Justice, Earl Warren, cited Dr. Clark's work in his opinion, writing that segregation "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."

Bibliography

Information for this biography was gathered from the following sources:

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