Famous African American Psychologists

Here is a short collaborative work of bios of some of the most famous African American Psychologists. Many of these Psychologists went on to become editors and publishers in known psychological journals, head psychological departments in Universities, and other practices. The bios include their present positions in psychology, any literary journals they were involved with, and other important information that would sufficiently describe the following:

Francis Sumner was the first African-American to receive an earned doctorate in any American university. He worked closely with Hall during his time at Clark, and his dissertation--published in Pedagogical Seminary, which later became the Journal of Genetic Psychology--focused on "Psychoanalysis of Freud and Adler."

After graduation, Sumner accepted a position at West Virginia Collegiate Institute, and remained there until 1928. During those years, he continued to publish widely in experimental and nonexperimental psychology. Sumner spent the remainder of his career at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He helped establish an independent department of psychology there in 1930 and remained its chair until his death in 1954.

W. Curtis Banks, Ph.D., a Professor of Psychology at Howard University. He served for nine years as the Editor of The Journal of Black Psychology, has edited the Publication Manual of the Association of Black Psychologists, and established the Black Psychology Monographs. Dr. Banks is also the recipient of awards from the Association of Black Psychologists, the American Educational Research Association, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Harman George Canady, who succeeded Sumner at West Virginia College in 1928, received his MA degree in clinical psychology from Northwestern in 1927, and his doctorate there in 1941. Frederick Payne Watts, long associated with Howard University, received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1941.

Dr. Thomas A. Parham served as Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Counseling and Health Services, Director of the Counseling Center, and adjunct faculty at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Distinguished Psychologist in the Association of Black Psychologists, a Fellow in the American Psychological Association and a past president of the Association of Black Psychologists. Dr. Parham is also the author and co-author of at least books on studies of Black psychology.

Howard Long would become a center of education for black psychologists. In those days, Sumner's program awarded only an MS degree. Between 1927 and 1950, it graduated 62 masters students, with several becoming leaders in the field. Perhaps the best known was Kenneth B. Clark, who earned a Howard MS degree in 1935. His work on the effects of segregation on black youth was cited as a significant influence on the Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. the Board of Education. Clark would also become APA's first African-American president in 1970-71.

A. Kathleen Hoard Burlew, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. She is the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Black Psychology and co-author of two books, Reflections on Black Psychology and Minority Issues in Mental Health. Her other publications include articles on psychosocial aspects of sickle cell disease, women in nontraditional careers, and attrition among women in substance abuse treatment

Joseph L White, Ph.D. is a retired Professor of Psychology Comparative Cultures at the University of California, Irvine. He is a founding member and Distinguished Psychologist of the Association of Black Psychologists. Dr. White has served as an academician and practicing clinical/counseling psychologists for over thirty-eight years. Dr. White is the author and co-author of at least two books on the study of Black psychology.

Daudi Ajani ya Azibo a psychologist who specializes in Black psychology. He served from 1987-1992 as an Assistant Professor of African-American Studies/Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Azibo's most recent work appears in The Journal of Black Psychology, The Western Journal of Black Studies,The Afrocentric Scholar, and Work: A Black Culture Journal.

Henriette Pipes McAdoo is a professor in the Department of Family and Child Ecology in The College of Human Ecology at Michigan State University. She is Director of the Groves Conference on Families, a director of the National Council on Family Relations, and a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Adisa Ajamu founder and director of the Atunwa Collective, an African Family development think tank in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. He is currently a graduate student in developmental psychology at Howard University. Ajamu is the author of at least three books on African principles and a co-author of at least one book on Black psychology.