Dr. Kenneth B. Clark

An African-American psychologist, Dr. Kenneth B. Clark was an early civil rights leader who used social science to combat racial segregation. Dr. Clark received national recognition after his research was used by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Chief Justice Earl Warren in the Brown v. Board of Education case to argue that racial segregation in public schools was harmful to African-American children. Dr. Clark’s research used white and black dolls to study how young African-American children perceived their race. Dr. Clark’s work concluded that a majority of African-American children felt racially inferior. The data from the tests showed that a majority of the black children tested favoured the white dolls. Dr. Clark and his wife saw the data as “indicative of the dehumanizing effects of racism.” Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, accepted Dr. Clark’s contention, writing in the Court’s opinion that racial separation was “implying inferiority in civil society.” For black children, Chief Justice Warren continued, this “feeling of inferiority...may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” Warren directly cited Dr. Clark’s work in his opinion. Clark 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). Dr. Clark died in 2005.