Clark, Kenneth

Clark, Kenneth (Bancroft) (1914–  ) psychologist; born in the Panama Canal Zone. Emigrating to New York City with his mother (1919), he was educated at Howard University (1935) and Columbia University where he earned a Ph.D. in psychology (1940). Teaching at City College of New York (1942), he aided Gunnar Myrdal with his monumental study of America's racial problems. Clark later founded the Northside Center for Child Development to work with ghetto children and he published a report (1950) that unmasked the psychological effects of racial segregation in schools. The report was prominently cited in the 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education, that outlawed segregation nationwide. He helped found Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, served as a consultant to private and government bodies, was named the first black member of the New York State Board of Regents (1966), and founded Kenneth B. Clark & Associates (1986), a consulting firm for racially related issues. Besides Dark Ghetto (1965), he published numerous books and articles on the condition of African-Americans.