Kewashah Naomi

10/27/2025

03/15/2020

02/13/2020

Meet Dr Linda James Myers the "founder" of optimal psychology. Yes, this awesome woman essentially came up with a "new" psychological theoretical orientation.

Optimal psychology looks at importance of the role ones culture and spiritual nature plays in cultivating a healthy mindsets. This stems from her criticism of traditional western psychological frameworks and her research on African centered psychology. She questions the mindsets needed to uphold white supremacist views, and a need to explore African and Eastern worldviews that traditional western psychology had overlooked.

She is also a former president of the Association of Black Psychologists.

02/12/2020

Dr. Joseph L. White said "We (black people) cannot depend on them (white people) to define us. We have to take charge and define ourselves. We need to build our own psychology."

Dr. White was a clinical psychologist who was a founding member of the Association of Black Psychologists. His primary focus was on finding ways to assist disadvantaged students of color, by developing curriculum that caters to the needs of said students.

He was very vocal in his rejection of the use of white middle class norms in determining the standards of education. He often cited that this standard was biased, and was often used to incorrectly showcase the inferiority of African Americans. He spent his career reiterating this point and created programs specifically designed to counter the status quo.

02/11/2020

Meet psychologist and race relations expert, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum.

Dr. Tatum's research focused on, you guessed it, rave relations. Specifically on, racial identity development in teens and the effects of assimilation on black families into white neighborhoods. She believes that racial identity is critical to the development of a child and that race needs to be discussed openly with everyone, despite the "taboo" nature of it.

She also served as the 9th president of Spellman College for 13 years.

02/10/2020

Meet Dr. Robert Lee Williams II. He was the second president and founding member of the National Association of Black Psychologist.

His research showcased the inherent bias of the IQ test which was often used as a means of showing that African Americans were inferior to their European counterparts as it relates to intelligence. As such he created a test that helped disprove this called, the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity by utilizing African-American vernacular and personal experience. Through this test, he also helped coin the term ebonics now called AAVE. He also, helped to create the "black personality" theory, which again helped to disprove the idea of inferiority as it relates to self actualization.

At 89 years old, I can only imagine the knowledge he still holds.

02/07/2020

The first African American woman to receive a doctorate in psychology was none other that Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser.

Unfortunately, her career is quite dirty as she died, only one year after recovering her degree, however her dissertation "The Non-Academic Development of Negro Children in Mixed and Segregated Schools," was widely received.

She was an advocate for school segregation. Her research showed that black students benefited from it more due to non-educational factors such as support and affection; where as integrated schools created a hostile environment that wasn't always conducive to learning.

I can only imagine the work she would have done, had she been able to hand a longer career. I'm even more curious to see what side of the landmark case "Brown vs The Board of Education" she would have sided with.

02/06/2020

Meet Dr. Francis Cecil Sumner also known as the "father of black psychology.

Dr. Sumner, was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology and helped to establish the psychology department at Howard University. He even taught Dr. Kenneth Clark (see previous highlight). His research was focused on racism and biases and his they affect the African. His research was primarily done to refute the long held claim "supported" by research that stated that African Americans were inferior to their caucasians counterparts.

If you can, take the time to read sooner of his papers.

02/05/2020

Today's highlight is Dr. Jessica Henderson Daniel. The first African American Woman to serve as the APA president and second African American (48 years after the first African American president).

Dr. Daniel's career was centered around instruction, training and mentoring. So much so, that she has received numerous awards in this area including the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award — making her the first woman, the first person of color and the first psychologist to earn the honor. Her research focuses on the mentoring and teaching of women in the field and she is a founding member of the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology.

She also helped to create a mentoring program for women of color and in 1999 obtained grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Kellogg Foundation and Harvard Medical School for the Next Generation Program, an ethnically based mentoring program for early career women of color committed to careers in research on adolescents.

02/04/2020

Keeping it in the family, today's Black mental health pioneer highlight is none other than Dr. Kenneth Bancroft Clark, who just happens to be yesterday's highlight (Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark) husband.

Dr. Clark also worked on the "Doll study" with his wife. She worked to prove that young children (as young as 3) can recognize racism and how it negatively affects them. His approach was looking at how segregation negatively affected students. I would say personally that he was the first to showcase the effects of systematic racism (even if that's moot what it was called back then) in the educational system.

He was also the first and only black male president of the American Psychological Association.

02/03/2020

The first black mental health professional I would like to highlight is the amazing Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark.

Many people know about the "doll study " where it was found that black children would often prefer to play with white dolls vs black dolls and the positive attributes these children gave to the white dolls and negative ones to the black dolls. This was the brilliant mind behind it. Her research was integral in the desegregation of schools and used in the landmark Brown vs. Board of education case.

Dr. Phipps Clarke was one of the first psychologists to try and study the mental health of African Americans and the way racism negatively affects them. Her research helped show how African Americans internalized racism and the negative effects of that, starting with children.

We are forever grateful for her insight and dedication.

02/02/2020

The mental health field like many other professions is white male dominated. Numerous atrocities have been committed in this field towards minorities, particularly African Americans, in the name of science.

This month I would like to take the time to highlight a few black mental professionals, that have helped to pave or are currently paving the way, for a much brighter future.