Mamie Phipps Clark

Born: April 18, 1917 in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Died: August 11, 1983 in New York

Education

1944-1945 Research psychologist for the American Public Health Association
1945-1946 Assumed duties as a research psychologist for the United States Armed Forces Institute, New York Examination Center at Teachers College, Columbia University.
1946 Became executive director of the Northside Center for Child Development in New York City.
1945-1946 Psychologist for the Riverdale Children’s Association.
1958-1960 Visiting professor of experimental methods and research design at Yeshiva University.
Member of the board of directors for the New York Mission Society, Teachers College at Columbia, Museum of Modern Art, and the Phelps Stokes Fund.
Served with several advisory groups including the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU) and the National Headstart Planning Committee.

Dr. Clark's work with children's race-recognition and self-esteem showed that Black children became aware of their racial identity at about three years old. Concurrently, these children began to see themselves negatively, reflecting the views that society held about them. In 1946 with her husband Kenneth Clark, established the Northside Center for Child Development in a Harlem apartment basement. The center provided a homelike environment for children.
She suspected that many Black children who were tested and told they were retarded, or had some other learning disability, were in fact not retarded. The I.Q. tests were racially and economically biased toward white children. Mamie said this about the many cases. "Following psychological testing it was found that most of the children were in fact above the intelligence level placement in CRMD (Class for Children of Retarded Mental Development) classes (I.Q.=70) and that actions on the part of public school personnel were illegal in those schools located in minority and deprived areas" (M. P. Clark, 1983).

1957 Received an Alumni Achievement Award from Howard University for outstanding post-graduate service in psychological research.
1972 Received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letter degree from Williams College.

“Segregation as a Factor in the Racial Identification of Negro Pre-school Children”
“The Development of Consciousness of Self and the Emergence of Racial Identification in Negro Pre-school Children”
“Skin Color as a Factor in Racial Identification of Negro Pre-school Children”

All three pieces were done with her husband Kenneth B. Clark.