Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund

Overview

<p>The Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund supports research and demonstration activities that promote the understanding of the relationship between self-identity and academic achievement with an emphasis on children in grade levels K–8. This grant will alternate every other year between an early career psychologist and a graduate student. The 2021 grant will support an early career psychologist.</p> <p>The Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund was established in 2003 to honor the Clarks and to perpetuate their work as pioneers in understanding the psychological underpinnings of race relations and in addressing social issues such as segregation and injustice. The Clarks were the first and second African-Americans to receive PhDs from Columbia University. Their famous doll experiments, in which they asked children to express their likes and dislikes about brown-and white-skinned dolls, led the Clarks to conclude that the segregation in schools and society was psychologically damaging to the children. These studies are believed to be the first social science evidence considered as hard fact by the U.S. Supreme court, in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka.</p>