About
The research of Kenneth B. Clark (1914–2005; Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1940) and Mamie Phipps Clark (1917–1983, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1943) challenged the notion of differences in the mental abilities of black and white children and thus played an important role in the desegregation of American schools. Much of Clarks' work came as a response to their involvement in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision.
Kenneth Clark was the first African American tenured professor at City College of New York, the first African American appointed to the New York State Board of Regents, and the first and only African American to be president of the American Psychological Association.