Clark, Mamie Phipps (1917–1983)

Alexandra Rutherford & Wade E. Pickren

Mamie Phipps Clark, one of the first Black women to earn a Ph.D. in psychology, was the cofounder and director of the innovative Northside Center for Child Development in New York City. Founded in 1946, Northside is a multidisciplinary, multiracial service for children, adolescents, and parents with psychological and educational needs in the Harlem community. Clark's vision for Northside and her implementation of this vision for more than 30 years attest to her enormous contribution to strengthening and improving the lives of ethnic minority children and their families. In addition to her professional contributions, Clark is also well known for her pioneering study of racial self-identification in African American children, conducted for her master's thesis at Howard University. Her subsequent studies on racial identification in both Black and White children, published with her husband, psychologist Kenneth B. Clark, were used to prepare the famous “Social Science Statement” supporting the racial ...

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