African American Psychology

African American
Psychology
What is that?
 African (Black) Psychology is defined as a
system of knowledge (philosophy,definitions,
concepts, models, procedures, and practice)
concerning the nature of the social universe
from the perspectives of African cosmology.
 Black psychology is nothing more or less than

the uncovering,articulation, and application of
the principles of the Black reality.
Types of Black psychology
 Traditional – apply European norms in
analyzing Black behavior.
 Reformist – adapt conventional thought to
conform to African American “experience
with little regard for African foundations.”
 Radical – African ethos is the way to
analyze Black behavior independent of
European theory. It includes “African
religion, philosophy, spiritualism, ritualism,
concept of time, and worldview as the
foundation of Black psychology.”
Perspectives
 Euro-American Value
 Culturally Biased
 Afriphobic
 Dismissive of Africa
 Scientifically racist
Slavery on Black Psychology
 Slavery lasted for more than 300
years
 Emancipation was proclaimed about
140 years ago.
 Legalized segregation ended only
about 50 years ago.
 Attitudes and feelings still
persist.
Effect of slavery
 The effects of slavery on the
African was pervasive. The
enslaved were:
 Brainwashed
 Afflicted with self rejection and
alienation
 Made to fear their captors
 Developed a dependency
Goals
 The goal of Black psychologist is to
understand Blacks and provide means
by which they can develop healthy
psychological functioning.
Notable People
Francis C. Sumner
 Francis Cecil Sumner (December 7, 1895- January

12, 1954) was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He
was an influential psychologist who is commonly
referred to as the “Father of Black Psychology”
 Sumner’s area of focus was in investigating how to
refute racism and bias in the theories used to
conclude the inferiority of African Americans.
Sumner’s work is thought to be a response to the
Eurocentric methods of psychology.
Continued
 First Black to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology
 In his lifetime, Sumner made many contributions to the education
of black people, including establishing an independent department
of psychology at Howard University,
 Sumner challenged his students to work hard and under his
guidance they received a quality education .
 At the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, Sumner created a
prestigious award that was given to a psychology student with the
most outstanding essay on a particular topic.
 Sumner was a member and contributed to numerous organizations.
They include: The American Psychological Association, American
Association for the Advancement of Science, American Educational
Research Association, Eastern Psychological Association, Southern
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and The District of Columbia
Psychological Association.
 Sumner did vast amounts of research concerning equality and
justice between Blacks and Whites.
 He studied the attitudes of Blacks and Whites towards the
administration of justice with the goal of administering justice on a
more democratic basis.
William Cross
Cross developed a 5 phase developmental theory of
Black identification. He called this theory Nigrescence,
translated as: “the process of becoming Black."
The five stages progress as follows:
 Pre-encounter
 Encounter
 Immersion
 Emersion
 Internalization
The process of becoming black
The first stage

 refers to the time in one’s life when
he/she are unaware of his/her race or racial
implications.
The second stage
 racial awareness.
 remembers as the first time he/she treated differently because
of color
The third stage

 often in response to a racial encounter takes on all the
identifying elements of his/her race.
 One becomes very much involved in being a member of his/her
group and embracing all the behaviors, characteristics and
features that are associated with being a member of that race.
 Will spend time with those in his/her own race to the exclusion
of members of other races.
The process of becoming black
The fourth stage

 Comes out of the absolute immersion and comes to find different
behaviors, characteristics and features that they may want to take on from
another race.
 Socially one begins to become more comfortable with and value
relationships with members of other races.
The final stage
 the reaching of a balance. The balance involves the summation of choices
and experiences one has throughout his/her identification process
 A successful attainment of this process and the arrival at this final stage
could be described as a level of comfort with one’s own race as well as the
race of those around them.
 Throughout one’s life one may revisit different stages and repeat steps of
this process and reformulate their racial identity and opinions. Repeating
stages is not a regression but often a part of greater process of integrating
new information and reevaluating ideas from a more mature standpoint.
Alvin Possaint
 Alvin Francis Poussaint born May 15, 1934 in New

York City
 Is a noted professor of psychiatry at Harvard

Medical School, and the author of numerous books
on child psychiatry, with a particular focus on the
raising of African American children.
 His first book, Why Blacks Kill Blacks (1972) explores the
effects of White racism on Black psychological
development. Alvin also covers topics from black suicide, Black
sexuality, and suggestion to white parents how to raise their
children free form prejudice in his book
 From 1984 to 1993, Dr. Poussaint was the consultant for two
popular television series, The Cosby Show and a Different
World. Poussaint ensured that these shows stayed away from
negative stereotypes and presented a positive image of Blacks
to the audience.
 In 1997 Poussaint won a New England Emmy for Outstanding
Children’s Special as the co-executive producer of Willoughby’s
Wonders
 Poussaint completed his postgraduate training at the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Neuropsychiatric Institute,
where he served as the chief resident in psychology from 1964
to 1965.
Frances Cress Welsing
 Born March 18, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois
 She is an African American psychiatrist living in
Washington, D.C.
 She is noted for her "Cress Theory of Color
Confrontation", which explores the practice of
white supremacy.
 She is the author of The Isis Papers; The Keys
to the Colors
Wade Nobles
 Dr. Wade W. Nobles is an experimental social
psychologist, who received his Ph.D. from Stanford
University
 He has a special interest in the social, ethnic and
cultural relativity of social science, research and
evaluation models
 Dr. Nobles is a prominent theoretical scientist in the
fields of African Psychology, cross-cultural and ethno-
human functioning.
 He is one of the leading researchers on social
systems and psycho-cultural development.
 Dr. Nobles is the founder and Executive Director of
the Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family,
Life and Culture, Inc., and a full-time, tenured
professor in the Department of Black Studies, the
School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State
University.
 http://www.radford.edu/~jaspelme/minority%20grou
ps/Karenga_Black_Psychology.pdf
 http://www.iasbflc.org/nobles.htm
 http://www.sagepub.com/upm-
data/6230_Chapter_1_Belgrave_I_Proof_pdf.pdf
 http://www.earlham.edu/~knigher/sumner.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Cress_Welsing
 http://www.hms.harvard.edu/orma/poussaint/biograp
hy.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Poussaint
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Cross,_Jr.

African American Psychology

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African American Psychology

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African American

 Black psychology is nothing more or less than

 Francis Cecil Sumner (December 7, 1895- January

The first stage

The third stage

The fourth stage

 Alvin Francis Poussaint born May 15, 1934 in New

 Is a noted professor of psychiatry at Harvard

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