Why do white psychologists get recognition over minorities?

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I'm writing a paper on why white psychologists get recognition (especially in the past) over racial minority psychologists, and I need to be able to site a web site to support my answer. Any suggestions?

-- Jody Denison (JoKeDen@aol.com), March 20, 2001

Answers

You'll be glad to hear that Archives of the History of American Psychology in Akron, OH will be holding a conference to honor Robert V. Guthrie, author of "Even the Rat was White" (Allyn & Bacon, 1977/1997) on April 6 of this year. Information can be found at: http://www.uakron.edu/ahap/guthrie_main.htm. Included in the program will be a symposium on the 1968 founding of the Association of Black Psychologists, and an informational meeting for students on the APA Minority Fellowship Program.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), March 21, 2001.

I cannot give you a website, but as Christopher Green's answer implied, Robert Guthrie's book is, perhaps, the best single source addressing the matter. One charitable explanation might be that ancestral minority psychologists simply were not available in significant numbers until the latter half of the 20th century by which time most of the "history" sufficiently behind us to evaluate had occurred. Additionally, most of the ancestral minority academic psychologists were employed in colleges and universities with heavy teaching loads that afforded little time for research. On the other hand, it is my opinion that the single most important research ever done in psychology in terms of human impact were the "doll studies" of Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark, both of African American ancestry. The doll studies contributed significantly to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1954 that outlawed racial segregation in public schools and otherwise. I cannot imagine anything else that a psychologist has done that contributed to such a significant result.

-- Roger K. Thomas (rkthomas@uga.edu), March 21, 2001.

Graham Richards (Routledge, 1997) 'Race', Racism and Psychology: Towards a Reflexive History' is absolutely essential reading here.

-- Geoff Bunn (g.bunn@nmsi.ac.uk), April 24, 2001.

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