Mamie Phipps Clark

Mamie Phipps Clark
BornOctober 18, 1917
DiedAugust 11, 1983(1983-08-11) (aged 65)
New York, New York, U.S.
Resting placeMount Hope Cemetery Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.
EducationB.A. in Psychology, Howard University

M.A. in Psychology, Howard University

Ph.D. in Psychology, Columbia University
OccupationSocial psychologist
Known forPsychology Research supporting 1954 U.S Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
SpouseKenneth Clark
ChildrenKate Harris and Hilton Clark

Mamie Phipps Clark (October 18, 1917 – August 11, 1983) was a social psychologist who, along with her husband Kenneth Clark, focused on the development of self-consciousness in black preschool children. Clark was born and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas.[1] Clark received her post-secondary education at Howard University, and she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees there.

For her master's thesis, known as "The Development of Consciousness of Self in Negro Pre-School Children," Clark worked with black Arkansas preschool children.[2] This work included doll experiments that investigated the way African American children's attitudes toward race and racial self-identification were affected by segregation. According to the study, children who attended segregated schools preferred playing with white dolls over black dolls. The study was highly influential in the Brown v. Board of Education court case.[3]

  1. ^ "Featured Psychologists: Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, and Kenneth Clark, PhD". apa.org. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  2. ^ Karera, Axelle. "Mamie Phipps Clark". Psychology's Feminist Voices. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  3. ^ "Mamie Katherine Phipps Clark (1917–1983)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 2016-06-07.