Kenneth Clark

Sociologist, writer, and scholar

• Born: July 24, 1914
• Birthplace: Panama Canal Zone
• Died: May 1, 2005
• Place of death: Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Clark was one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his contribution to the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared separate-but-equal education unconstitutional. His scholarship on the social construct of race made him a prominent voice during a time of transition and turmoil in the United States.

Early Life

Kenneth Bancroft Clark was born in 1914 in the Panama Canal Zone to Miriam Clark, a native of Jamaica, and Arthur Bancroft Clark, a native of the West Indies. Arthur was employed as a superintendent of cargo for the United Fruit Company. The family lived a comfortable life in Panama, but Miriam was sure the United States would provide Clark and his sister, Beulah, with better educational and professional opportunities. Arthur was wary of migrating to the United States because of the volatile racial climate; he feared his race would be an impediment to employment, which would prevent him from supporting his family. Miriam was undeterred, so she moved with the children to New York in 1918, when Clark was about four years old.

Clark began his formal education in the Harlem public school system. Later, he was accepted to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he studied political science under Professor Ralph Bunche; he completed his undergraduate degree in 1935 and graduate degree in 1936. While a student at Howard, Clark met a psychology student named Mamie Phipps, whom he later married. The couple later jointly created and implemented innovative studies and scholarship on the pathology of racism and the effects of racism on the identity and self-worth of African American students. Clark continued his education at Columbia University; as a student there, he worked as research associate for Gunnar Myrdal. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology in 1940 from Columbia University, becoming the first African American to accomplish this goal.

Life’s Work

Clark was committed to solving problems arising from the social construction of race. Therefore, much of his life’s work stemmed from observations of how race affected the identity and educational experiences of African Americans. He is best known for his groundbreaking doll study, which found that segregation had dire effects on African American children’s self-esteem. The study was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared segregated schools unconstitutional. A vocal supporter of school integration, Clark was called to testify in at least three cases that led to Brown. His work on the psychological impact race had on students was highly regarded and positioned Clark as one of the most influential social scientists of his generation.

Clark taught at Hampton Institute from 1940 to 1941 and City College of the City University of New York from 1941 to 1975. Clark cofounded the North Side Center for Research and Child Development in 1946; was a member of a commission created to investigate issues of integration for New York City’s Board of Education from 1954 to 1958; served as president of the Society for Psychological Studies on Social Issues from 1959 to 1960; created Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited in 1962; and was the first African American president of the American Psychological Association from 1970 to 1971. Besides being a highly active researcher and scholar on issues of race and identity facing African Americans, Clark also wrote books such as Desegregation: An Appraisal of the Evidence (1953), Prejudice and Your Child (1955), Dark Ghetto (1965), Pathos of Power (1974), and King, Malcolm, Baldwin: Three Interviews (1985).

When Clark retired from college instruction in 1975, he was a distinguished professor of psychology emeritus of the City University of New York. Soon after, he, his wife, and their two children (Kate Miriam and Hilton Bancroft) founded a consulting firm called Clark, Phipps, Clark, and Harris, which designed professional training programs to address inequities faced by people of color in the corporate environment.

Even though Clark began his career as a staunch integrationist and did not succumb to the deluge of separatist ideologies popular during the 1960’s and 1970’s, in the early 1980’s he reluctantly admitted the educational outlook was extremely poor for children of color; he also began to doubt the possibility of racial harmony through integration.

Clark died May 1, 2005, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Significance

Clark’s examinations of the effects of segregation on self-esteem helped provide the basis for the Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark Brown v. Board of Edu- cation case. He was a longtime advocate of integration and equality in education who played an active role in increasing opportunities for African American children.

Bibliography

Clark, Kenneth. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New York: HarperCollins, 1965. In this classic work, Clark examines the effects of “ghettos” on their residents. He discovered that people in these socioeconomically disadvantaged communities lack the opportunities and education present elsewhere.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Pathos of Power. New York: HarperCollins, 1974. This work chronicles Clark’s departure from his lifelong commitment to integration as the most effective way of solving issues of racism.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Toward Humanity and Justice: The Writings of Kenneth B. Clark, Scholar of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Decision. Edited by Woody Klein. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, 2004. A collection of fifty years of Clark’s scholarship, containing his thoughts on education, social science, and politics.

Jackson, John P. Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case Against Brown v. Board of Education. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Examines the arguments made against integration by scientists who sought to link intelligence, race, and eugenics.