Psych: BIPOC Scholars

Mamie & Kenneth Clark

___ master's thesis studies how Black preschoolers develop racial self-identification (1939). Their research is cited by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. ____ becomes the first Black president of the American Psychological Association (1971).

Doll Studies

250+ Black children, ages 3 – 7; four dolls identical except skin and hair color. most children preferred the White doll and called it “nice"; many called the Black doll "bad." Children absorb society's racial hierarchy by age 3; segregation harms self-concept. Cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

Amos N. Wilson: Development on its Own Terms

Reject the White norm: Black children should be studied on their own terms, not measured against White children as the standard.

Culture and power shape development: Racism is about power, not just attitudes, and it shapes the contexts children grow up in.

Look for strengths: Early abilities and cultural assets are overlooked when research looks only for deficits.

Family and community as first teachers: Early stimulation, high expectations, and cultural knowledge help children's abilities flourish.

Margaret Beale Spencer

Her central insight: The same risk can lead to different outcomes depending on how a young person perceives it and what supports they have.

Built on the Clarks: Her dissertation studied racial attitudes in Black children on Chicago's South Side.

Extended Bronfenbrenner: PVEST (1995) adds the youth's own perception, or phenomenology, to ecological systems.

Reframed "problem" behavior: acting out can be a coping reaction to unfair systems, not a character flaw.