Clark, Kenneth Bancroft (1914–2005)

Kenneth Bancroft Clark was one of the most influential psychologists and social activists of his generation. Born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1914, Clark moved with his family to Harlem, New York, when he was 4 years old. After graduating from Washington High School in New York City, he enrolled in Howard University, a prominent historically Black university in Washington, D.C. It was at Howard that Clark would work with African American scholars like E. Franklin Frazier and Francis Cecil Sumner, whose ideas about racism and integration would influence his thoughts throughout his career. From Howard, he returned to New York to attend Columbia University. He would become the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in the school's history. In 1938, he married Mamie Phipps (Clark), an influential psychologist in her own right. The two had met at Howard and continued their relationship when Mamie came to New York to study psychology at Columbia. Clark would live and work in Harlem for much of the remainder of his life.

Clark was perhaps best known for his contribution to the 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. His research was an integral part of the case challenging the legality of segregated schools. He worked closely with his wife, Mamie, to use their research to change the way that race and prejudice are viewed in America. Over the course of his career, he would help found a community health center, chair several educational research projects, and hold several key positions within the fields of psychology and education (including the presidency of the American Psychology Association) and a seat on the New York State Board of Regents. Clark passed away in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, in 2005.

Clark's early work focused on racial identity development in African American children. In a set of experiments known as the doll studies, African American children were presented with dolls that were identical in every way except for skin color. Some of the dolls were brown to represent African American children, and some were pinkish to represent White children.

Clark and the research team asked participants a series of questions about the dolls, such as “Which one is you?” and “Give me the doll that you like the best.” The results from this series of experiments indicated that even as young as age 3, a majority of African American children were aware of the classifications of White and African American. The results also revealed that although many children identified themselves with the African American doll, a large proportion expressed a preference for the white dolls and a rejection of the brown dolls. In the eyes of many African American children, white dolls were associated with goodness and intelligence, whereas brown dolls were associated with ignorance and other negative characteristics.

Clark found these results particularly disturbing. The views of the children in the study highlighted the profound psychological conflict facing African American children in the United States at that time. Clark argued that as African American children grew, the already difficult process of identity development was further complicated for them by the cultural definitions of race. The children knew that they were African American and were also aware of the insulting value that culture had placed on this group.

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