Modern Doll Test – The Kenneth & Mamie Clark Experiment
Kenneth Bancroft ClarkΒ (July 24, 1914 β May 1, 2005) andΒ Mamie Phipps ClarkΒ (April 18, 1917 β August 11, 1983)Β Β wereΒ African-AmericanpsychologistsΒ who as a married team conducted important research among children and were active in theΒ Civil Rights Movement. They founded the Northside Center for Child Development inΒ HarlemΒ and the organizationΒ Harlem Youth Opportunities UnlimitedΒ (HARYOU).Β Kenneth Clark also was an educator and professor atΒ City College of New York, and first Black president of theΒ American Psychological Association.
They were known for their 1940s experiments usingΒ dollsΒ to study children’s attitudes aboutΒ race. The Clarks testified asΒ expert witnessesΒ inΒ Briggs v. Elliott, one of the cases rolled intoΒ Brown vs. Board of EducationΒ (1954). The Clarks’ work contributed to the ruling of theΒ U.S. Supreme CourtΒ in which it determined thatΒ de jureΒ racial segregationΒ inΒ public educationΒ wasΒ unconstitutional.Β Chief JusticeΒ Earl WarrenΒ wrote in the Brown vs. BoardΒ opinion, “To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone”.
