Summer O’Key February 21, 2010 Freshman Seminar II

1. KennethClark Summer O’Key February 21, 2010 Freshman Seminar II

2. Who is Kenneth Clark? • Dr. Kenneth Clark was an African-American social psychologist who was most known for his experiments examining children’s perceptions of race during the Civil Rights Movement.

3. 1966: Kenneth became the first African-American to be appointed to the New York State Board of Regents. 1940: Kenneth became the first African-American to earn his Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. Timeline 1914: Kenneth Bancroft Clark was born on July 24 in the Panama Canal Zone, Panama. 1966: He became the first African-American president of the American Psychology Association. 1940: Kenneth and his wife conduct The Doll Experiments. 1919: Kenneth and his family moved to New York for better opportunities. 1937: Kenneth married Mamie Phipps, whom he met at Howard University. 1935: Kenneth earns his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Howard University. 2005: At the age of 90, Kenneth Clark died on May 1 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. 1936: Kenneth earns his Master’s Degree in Psychology.

4. Major Findings: The Doll Experiments (1940) • Kenneth and his wife conducted The Doll Experiments to study children’s self-perception of race. • The experiment consisted of choosing which doll they would rather play with and to color in a figure drawing meant to be themself. • In the study, the black children would usually pick the white doll and color in the figure with a lighter skin tone instead of their true skin color. • They concluded that black children generally favored the white doll and lighter skin because they thought that white was worthy and appealing and black was bad and ugly. This shows that racial segregation had a damaging influence on black children.

5. Significance of Contributions: Brown vs. Board of Education • Due to the Kenneth and his wife’s major findings, they served as expert witnesses in a court case relating to The Brown vs. Board of Education. • This was the first time that social science conclusions had been used for a ruling in the Supreme Court and became one of the deciding factors in favor of the court’s ruling segregation in public school was unconstitutional.

6. References Bowen, D. Kenneth Clark. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/kennethclark.html Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps-Clark. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Clark_(psychologist) Kenneth B. Clark. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from http://www.bookrags.com/biography/kenneth-b-clark/ Kenneth B. Clark. Find a grave. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12220860 Kenneth Clark. Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Kenneth_Bancroft_Clark.aspx