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Mamie Phipps Clark is anoted female psychologist, best known for her research on race, self-esteem, and child development. The work did with her husband, Kenneth Clark, was critical in the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education case. She was the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University.

Mamie Phipps Clark’s Early Life

She met her husband, Kenneth Clark, at Howard, and he soon convinced her to switch majors to psychology. She graduatedmagna cum laudein 1938 and then spent time working in a law office where witnessed first-hand the damaging effects of racial segregation.

Clark soon started graduate school and gave birth to two children while pursuing her studies. Her master’s thesis centered on the formation of racial identity andself-esteem. Her work helped pave the way for further research on self-concept among minorities.

What Is Self-Concept?

In 1943, she earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Not only was she the only Black woman in the entire program, but she also became the second African-American to earn a doctorate from Columbia, the first being her husband.

Establishing Her Career

Even after earning her Ph.D., Clark found finding good job opportunities to be difficult.

“Although my husband had earlier secured a teaching position at the City College of New York, following my graduation it soon became apparent to me that a Black female with a Ph.D. in psychology was an unwanted anomaly in New York City in the early 1940s,” she later explained.

After working briefly analyzing data for the American Public Health Association, she moved on to a position as a research psychologist for the United States Armed Forces Institute. While working as a testing psychologist at an organization for homeless Black girls, Clark noted how limitedmental health serviceswere for minority children.

In 1946, Clark and her husband founded the Northside Center for Child Development, the first agency to offer psychological services to children and families living in the Harlem area of New York City. Clark served as the Northside Center’s director until her retirement in 1979.

The Clark Doll Test

In a classic experiment, the Clarks showed Black children two dolls that were identical in every way except that one doll was white and one was Black. The children were then asked a series of questions including which doll they preferred to play with, which doll was a “nice” doll, which one was a “bad doll,” and which one looked most like the child.

The researchers discovered that not only would 59% the children identify the Black doll as the “bad” one, nearly 33% selected the white doll as the one they most resembled.

Contributions to Psychology

Mamie Phipps Clark played an important role in the civil rights movement, as her work with her husband demonstrated how the concept of “separate but equal” provided a far from equal education for Black youth.Her investigations into self-concept among minorities inspired further research on the subject and opened up new areas of research within the field ofdevelopmental psychology.

Issues in Developmental Psychology

Unfortunately, many of Clarks important contributions have been overlooked, with psychology history courses and textbooks mentioning her only in passing. In his bookHistory of Psychology, author David Hothersall notes that minorities, including Black and female psychologists, have long been neglected in psychology histories.

Her publications include:

5 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD.Columbia University.C250 celebrates 250 Columbians ahead of their time.Alvarez LDC, Jones KN, Walljasper-Schuyler C, et al.Psychology’sHidden Figures: Undergraduate psychology major’s (in)ability to recognize our diverse pioneers.Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. 2019;24(2). doi:10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.2.84Clark MP, Clark KB.Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children[thesis]. 1947.Banyard P, Flanagan C.OCR Psychology: AS Core Studies and Psychological Investigations (Third Edition).Taylor & Francis. 2013.Additional ReadingButler, S. N.Mamie Katherine Phipps Clark (1917–1983).The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Updated May 10, 2018.Columbia University.Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark.Columbia Encyclopedia.Hothersall, D.History of Psychology(3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1995.

5 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychological Association.Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD.Columbia University.C250 celebrates 250 Columbians ahead of their time.Alvarez LDC, Jones KN, Walljasper-Schuyler C, et al.Psychology’sHidden Figures: Undergraduate psychology major’s (in)ability to recognize our diverse pioneers.Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. 2019;24(2). doi:10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.2.84Clark MP, Clark KB.Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children[thesis]. 1947.Banyard P, Flanagan C.OCR Psychology: AS Core Studies and Psychological Investigations (Third Edition).Taylor & Francis. 2013.Additional ReadingButler, S. N.Mamie Katherine Phipps Clark (1917–1983).The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Updated May 10, 2018.Columbia University.Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark.Columbia Encyclopedia.Hothersall, D.History of Psychology(3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1995.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Psychological Association.Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD.Columbia University.C250 celebrates 250 Columbians ahead of their time.Alvarez LDC, Jones KN, Walljasper-Schuyler C, et al.Psychology’sHidden Figures: Undergraduate psychology major’s (in)ability to recognize our diverse pioneers.Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. 2019;24(2). doi:10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.2.84Clark MP, Clark KB.Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children[thesis]. 1947.Banyard P, Flanagan C.OCR Psychology: AS Core Studies and Psychological Investigations (Third Edition).Taylor & Francis. 2013.

American Psychological Association.Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD.

Columbia University.C250 celebrates 250 Columbians ahead of their time.

Alvarez LDC, Jones KN, Walljasper-Schuyler C, et al.Psychology’sHidden Figures: Undergraduate psychology major’s (in)ability to recognize our diverse pioneers.Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. 2019;24(2). doi:10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.2.84

Clark MP, Clark KB.Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children[thesis]. 1947.

Banyard P, Flanagan C.OCR Psychology: AS Core Studies and Psychological Investigations (Third Edition).Taylor & Francis. 2013.

Butler, S. N.Mamie Katherine Phipps Clark (1917–1983).The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Updated May 10, 2018.Columbia University.Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark.Columbia Encyclopedia.Hothersall, D.History of Psychology(3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1995.

Butler, S. N.Mamie Katherine Phipps Clark (1917–1983).The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Updated May 10, 2018.

Columbia University.Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark.Columbia Encyclopedia.

Hothersall, D.History of Psychology(3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1995.

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