1914 – Kenneth B. Clark Is Born
Kenneth Clark, born in 1914 in the Panama Canal Zone, was the first Black person to earn a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. He and Mamie founded the North Side Center for Child Development in Harlem and published influential works like Prejudice and Your Child and The Dark Ghetto.
In the late 1930s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark began pioneering research on the self-image of Black children. Their famous “doll tests” revealed how segregation negatively affected Black children’s self-perception, findings later used by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP in legal battles against segregation, including Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Clark retired in 1975 and died in 2005 at age 90.
1930 – Walter Charles Carrington Is Born
Walter Charles Carrington, born on July 24, 1930 was a distinguished U.S. diplomat, serving as Ambassador to Senegal (1980–81) and Nigeria (1993–97). A Harvard graduate and civil rights advocate, he was deeply committed to Africa, marrying Nigerian physician Arese Ukpoma and living in Nigeria for decades.
Carrington held leadership roles in the Peace Corps, the Africa-America Institute, and taught at several universities. He was known for defending democracy during Nigeria’s military rule. He passed away in 2020 at age 90.
1954 – Mary Church Terrell Passes Away
Mary Church Terrell was a writer, educator, and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and served as its first president. Born in 1863 in Memphis to wealthy former slaves, she earned degrees from Oberlin and became a leader in the fight for racial and gender equality.
Terrell championed anti-lynching efforts, women’s suffrage, and desegregation. A charter member of the NAACP, she also served on D.C.’s Board of Education and published her autobiography in 1940. She died on July 24, 1954 at age 90.
