Dr. Kenneth Clark and Dr. Mamie Clark were the first African American man and the first African American woman, respectively, to earn a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in the early 1940s. Over the course of 14 years, they developed and conducted what became known as “the doll tests”—groundbreaking experiments that revealed the psychological effects of segregation on African American children. The tests were conducted using several dolls, all identical except for skin color. The Black children, ages 3–7, were asked to identify which doll they preferred. The majority preferred the white doll, leading Drs. Clark to conclude that “prejudice, discrimination and segregation” damaged their self-esteem and caused Black children to develop a sense of inferiority. In 1947, Gordon Parks photographed the Clarks conducting their “doll tests” for Ebony magazine for an article titled “Problem Kids: New Harlem clinic rescues ghetto youth from emotional short circuit.” “The doll test” research was later used as key evidence in school desegregation lawsuits including, notably, Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
The Ebony article highlighted the work at the Northside Testing and Consultation Center, located at the heart of Harlem. The center was independently founded by Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark and focused on testing and treating troubled children. Their work focused on the devastating psychological effects of segregation, Jim Crow laws, and poverty on these children—work that Parks highlighted through his now-famous images, but was notably demphasized in the accompanying article.
