Civil Rights Experiments: Kenneth Bancroft Clark And Mamie Phipps

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The married couple, Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps created an African American psychologist team to conduct important research around child behavior and were civil rights activist as well. As a team, they founded the Northside Center for Child Development and the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, both in Harlem, New York. Kenneth and Mamie Clark are famously known for their 1940’s experiments on the attitudes of children about race. The Clark family also created another experiment, the Coloring Test. As a member of the African-American educational community, the Clarks’ testified as expert witnesses to the Briggs vs. Elliot trial in 1952, which was one of the five cases of the Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. The Clarks’ studies, experiments, and work contributed to the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court; determining that de jure racial segregation in public education was unconstitutional. Kenneth and Mamie Clark went on to start a family. They birthed two children, a daughter named Kate and a son named Hilton. Hilton and Kate continued in their mother and father's footsteps by becoming civil rights activist and continuing their parent's work and businesses. Hilton Clark was a leader of a society of Afro-American Students; Kenneth worked alongside his students and the University …show more content…

Three papers were published between 1933 and 1940 on children’s perspective on race. Their experiments were among African-American children, ages three to seven, who attended segregated schools in Washington, D.C. versus students who attended integrated schools in New York. In the experiment, each child was presented with two dolls that were exactly the same. The only difference was the skin and hair color. One doll had brown skin with black hair and the other had white skin with blonde hair. The children were asked questions about the dolls and given directions, such

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