5 Black Psychologists you Should Know

Written By Marie Chesaniuk, PhD

The field of psychology, while touting science and inclusion as values, has never done enough to highlight the achievements of black psychologists. A content analysis of five history of psychology textbooks (Cramblet Alvarez et al., 2020) revealed that pioneering white men are overwhelmingly mentioned (91.3%), compared to white women (6.9%), men of color (1.6%), and women of color (0.2%). Read on to recognize the contributions of several black psychologists who elevated the discipline (and some who continue to do so now, in no special order.) 

1. Dr. Robert Lee Williams II

You are probably aware that IQ tests tend to underestimate black test takers’ IQs. Robert Lee Williams II is why we know this. Deeply influenced by his own experience taking an IQ test in college that underestimated his own abilities and recommended he pursue manual labor, Williams theorized that the reason IQ tests seemed to favor white test takers is because they are written using language and cultural references specific to white culture, to which black test takers lack access. Based on this theory, in 1972, he developed the The Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity (AKA the BITCH-100 or The BITCH Test.) The BITCH Test is an IQ test written using African American Vernacular (AAVE or “ebonics,” a term Williams coined in his work on black speech patterns) as well as black cultural references. White test takers generally score more poorly than black test takers on this test. Williams used this work to advocate on behalf of black children who were more likely to be institutionalized due to the use of racially biased IQ tests used to label them as intellectually disabled. During his tenure as president of the Association of Black Psychologists, he also advocated for the recruitment and retention of black psychologists in higher education by disseminating The 10 Point Plan to 300 colleges and universities in the US. 

2. Dr. Joy Harden Bradford

Despite the work of those in the past to advance the wellbeing of black people particularly, there remain a number of barriers and stigmas specific to the black experience, particularly the experience of black women, that Dr. Harden Bradford challenges. Starting in 2014, Harden Bradford started Therapy for Black Girls – an online platform and community focused on nurturing mental wellness among black women. Harden Bradford takes a resilience-oriented approach to mental health rather than an illness- or problem-oriented approach. The Therapy for Black Girls platform includes a Facebook community called Thrive Tribe, a blog, a podcast, and a black therapist directory. This platform, and Harden Bradford’s approach more broadly, challenges barriers to seeking mental health support and treatment in the black community, particularly among women, such as lack of access to mental healthcare and lack of black representation among mental healthcare providers, being socialized to not openly discuss one’s personal problems, seeing mental illness as a spiritual failing, and fear of appearing weak or entitled as a result of seeking treatment. On Therapy for Black Girls, Harden Bradford encourages open discussion of mental wellness, leaning on one’s community as a source of support, and easy access to therapy.

3. Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt

Dr. Eberhardt is a social psychologist whose research explores the influence of race – and specifically the way people look physically – on perceptions of crime. Her research has shown that police officers are more likely to identify African American faces than white faces as criminal. A database study she conducted demonstrated that among defendants convicted of murdering a white person, defendants who had a more stereotypically black physical appearance received more severe sentences and were more likely to receive the death sentence relative to those whose appearance was less stereotypically black. This finding held up when controlling for numerous other variables. She found a similar effect among juvenile offenders, wherein young black defendants were more likely to be held to adult standards than young white defendants. Also among youth, Eberhardt’s research found that teachers are more likely to interpret black students’ behavior as more serious than similar behaviors among white students. In response to the troubling findings of her research, Dr. Eberhardt has created interventions to improve policing with local law enforcement agencies.

4. Dr. E. Kitch Childs

Dr. Childs’ was a therapist, activist, and researcher. She was instrumental in the removal of sexual orientation from the DSM as a psychological disorder. In 1969, she founded both the Association for Women in Psychology and the University of Chicago’s Gay Liberation Front. As a clinical psychologist, she had her own private practice where she especially catered to the needs of black women, people with HIV/AIDS, sex workers, and other disenfranchised clients. This arose from her feminist approach to psychology in which she sought to reduce power differentials between the client and clinician and incorporate hegemonic power structures into her case conceptualizations. Across her clinical practice, research, and activism, she sought to close the gaps in feminism and psychology that left black people, particularly black women, without representation or effective treatment options.

5. Dr. Hope Landrine

Dr. Landrine initially gained a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In her Master’s thesis, Dr. Landrine demonstrated that women make feminist statements when they have high self-esteem. Her doctoral thesis, The Politics of Madness (since published as a book), delved into the interplay of gender, socioeconomic status, and race in the psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and challenged the psychiatric model of an individual void of context and exposed the ways in which this model recreates social inequities. She went on to complete a fellowship in Social Psychology followed by a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, which allowed her to shift her specialization to health psychology and public health. Her work in health established the impacts of impoverished and segregated neighborhood environments and cultural factors influencing African American health behaviors and outcomes in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, mental health, and addiction.

The best way I can end this piece is by hoping this was a good jumping off point for your own foray into learning about the many, many more people whose achievements we as a society benefit from even as their contributions are under-recognized.