Timeline

1865 January 31 Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.

1868 January 28 Fourteenth Amendment becomes part of the Constitution; declares all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens and entitled to the equal protection of its law.

1877 Southern states and municipalities begin instituting segregation “Jim Crow” laws in public accommodations.

1914 July 24 Kenneth B. Clark born, Panama Canal Zone.

1936 Clark earns M.S., psychology, Howard Uni-versity, Washington, D.C.

1937 Clark taught psychology at Howard University while a graduate student.

1938 Clark marries Mamie Katherine Phipps.

1940 Clark obtains Ph.D., experimental psychol-ogy, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., the first African American to earn PhD in psychology at Columbia.

Mamie begins her doctoral studies at Colum-bia University as the psychology depart-ment’s second African American student.

1941 Clark joins the faculty of Hampton Insti-tute, Hampton, V.A., as Assistant Professor of psychology.

Clark works for Office of War Information, Washington, D.C., as a research psychologist.

1942-1975 Dr. Clark teaches in the Depatment of psychology, The City College, City Univer-sity of New York (CUNY)

1943 Mamie obtains Ph.D., experimental psy-chology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., the first African American woman to earn PhD in psychology at Columbia.

1946 Cofounded with wife, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark, Northside Center for Child Development, New York, N.Y.

1950 Clark joins the staff of the Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth.

1909 February 12 NAACP founded by W.E.B. DuBois and other influential African Ameri-cans and whites.

1917 April 18 Mamie Phipps born, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

1919 Clark moves to New York, N.Y., with his mother and sister.

1931 Clark becomes a naturalized United States citizen.

1935 Clark earns A.B., Howard University, Washington, D.C.

1896 May 18 U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson case upholds the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

1951 Clark joins the research staff of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a social science consultant.

1954 Clark’s research on the effects of racial segregation is cited by Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education decision on school segregation.

1954 May 17 U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education rules that racial seg-regation in public schools is unconstitu-tional.

1955 Clark publishes Prejudice and Your Child (Boston: Beacon Press).

1959-1960 Clark serves as President, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Is-sues (SPSSI).

1961-1967 Consultant, personnel division, U.S. Department of State.

1960 Clark becomes the first African American professor to gain tenure, full professor-ship and later, Distinguished Professor status, anywhere in the City University of New York (CUNY), accomplished at the City College of New York.

1961 Clark awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP.

1962-1964 Clark serves as Chairman, Board of Trustees, Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, New York, N.Y

1964-1966 Clark serves as Director, Social Dy-namics Research Institute, City College, City University of New York, New York, N.Y.

1965 Clark publishes Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power (New York: Harper and Row). Clark awarded the Kurt Lewin Memorial Award of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues from a division of the American Psychological Association.

1966-1986 Clark serves as Member, Board of Re-gents, State Education Department, Univer-sity of the State of New York.

1966-1975 Clark serves as President, Metropoli-tan Applied Research Center, New York, N.Y.

1968 Clark coauthors with Jeannette Hopkins A Relevant War Against Poverty: A Study of Community Action Programs and Observable Change (New York: Harper & Row).

1968-1975 Clark serves as Member, board of di-rectors, New York State Urban Development Corp.

1970-1971 Clark serves as President, American Psychological Association.

1972 Clark publishes A Possible Reality: A De-sign for the Attainment of High Academic Achievement for Inner City Students (New York: Emerson Hall).

1974 Clark publishes The Pathos of Power (New York: Harper and Row).

1975 Clark retires from The City College of New York after 33 years of teaching psychology.

1976-1986 Clark serves as President, Clark, Phipps, Clark & Harris, New York, N.Y.

1979 Mamie Clark retires as Director of North-side Center for Child Development.

1983 Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark dies at the age of 66.

1985 Clark awarded the Freedom of Speech Medal of the Four Freedoms Awards. Clark receives honorary Doctor of Law from Georgetown University.

1986-1994 Clark serves as President, Kenneth B. Clark & Associates, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

1992 Clark awarded the John H. Finley Medal by the Alumni Association of The City College of New York.

2005 May 2 Dr. Kenneth B. Clark dies at the age of 90.

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