Features: Penn prof focuses on the 'Cornel West of his time'

WHAT BEGAN as a Penn professor's dissertation titled "Not-So-Simple Justice" has expanded into a full-fledged biography of 20th-century black psychologist Kenneth Bancroft Clark, a man the author calls "the Cornel West of his time."

The book, a work in progress by assistant professor Damon Freeman, will focus on Clark's idea that racism is simply a manifestation of the "dilemma of power," meaning, in Freeman's words, "that human beings never learn to handle power humanely."

Clark, who argued that racism is psychologically damaging, is best-known for his expert testimony in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. The case, argued by the NAACP, challenged whether a "separate but equal" public education could provide black Americans with the same educational opportunities as white Americans, and resulted in the outlawing of racial segregation in public schools.

We talked with Freeman about psychologist Clark.

Q. How was Clark's argument that racism was psychologically damaging received in the early 20th century?
A. At first there were a lot of people who agreed with him. There were a lot of social scientists that signed on, that became part of the Brown brief. In general, social science was moving in that direction anyway, but they were looking at it from the point of Jewish self-hatred.

Q. Both Clark and his wife, Mamie, are credited with the famous "doll experiments," which found that black children often preferred to play with white dolls. Whose idea was this?
A. It was originally her idea to do this testing on children and figure out how children racially identified. I had a chance to go back and look at the letters they wrote to each other. In those letters you see that they're sharing each other's ideas. They're talking to each other all the time about African-Americans, on psychology, the depression, and the effect of the depression on blacks. They're constantly exchanging and sharing ideas all of the time.

Q. In what way did Clark contribute to or pave the way for the civil-rights movement?
A. Certainly with the Brown case. Also, by being a presence for a long time. He was the only African-American on the New York State Board of Education, which really controlled not only the New York City school system, but all of the New York state colleges and universities. There are so many ways that I think he contributed that it's hard to quantify.

Q. What would Clark be fighting for today in Philadelphia?
A. He would be fighting on behalf of the children. The issues of DHS [Department of Human Services] - I'm sure he would be very much on the forefront of that. Second would be the schools. Clark very much argued that education was central and that without a good school system you don't have much else.