As the Ethics Co-Chair of the New York Association for School Psychologists, I recently wrote an article entitled “Special Education Practices: Past and Present.” During my research, I discovered some very interesting facts about a case that Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark was involved with in South Jamaica, Queens, New York.
Mamie Phipps Clark and her husband, Dr. Kenneth Clark, are mostly known for the famous doll test that was cited in Brown v. the Board of Education. In 1954, this landmark case called for desegregation in the public school system. This decision was based on legal precedent and on research that demonstrated the harmful effects of segregation on the social and educational development of African American children (Malkin, 2024)
Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark was the first African American woman to earn her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Also, Dr. Phipps Clark was a staunch advocate for mental health services for the underserved children and families in Harlem (Partida, 2023). In my article on Special Education Practices: Past and Present, I discovered that Dr. Phipps Clark played a pivotal role advocating for a group of children who were misclassified as needing special education services and who were subsequently placed in a subpar learning environment (Murray, 2026).
I found an article online entitled “Jim Crow School Kids are Mentally Unfit.” It was written by Constance Curtis and published in the New York Amsterdam News in 1946. The article described how children with and without low intelligence were being placed in classes called “CRMD.” These initials stand for “Children of Retarded Mental Development.” The CRMD program consisted of self-contained special education classes, many of which were housed within schools in African American communities. The focus was on teaching students’ “menial” tasks, such as washing dishes, shining shoes, polishing silverware, or manning an elevator. There were many students being placed in this program without being tested and without their parents’ knowledge or permission.
In the CRMD program, there was no emphasis on academics. In fact, many of the teachers who were hired for this program were not certified teachers, but educators who “failed examinations for their regular licenses and had been given licenses to teach children in the CRMD program” after participating in a six-month training course (Curtis, 1946). I was shocked to learn this, but it was not to believe. This was taking place in the New York City Public School system and primarily in the African American communities.
Several vigilant parents banded together with Eric Brown, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark, and a group called the Better Schools Coordinating Council of South Jamaica to demand that changes take place. These advocates charged the NYC Board of Education with these infractions. Although some immediate changes occurred, for many years afterward Latinx students, students with behavior difficulties, and students who struggled with chronic absenteeism were placed in the CRMD classes (Mayes, 2023).
Dr. Clark took on this battle. She became involved in this dispute with the city schools, as many black students had been incorrectly classified as intellectually deficient. At this time, Dr. Clark conducted independent testing that successfully challenged this practice. She suspected that many of the Black children who were tested were told they were developmentally delayed or had a learning disability. She accused the IQ testing process of being racially and economically biased. It was also determined that placement in CRMD classes was illegal in those schools located in minority and deprived areas (Smothers, 1983).
What started as an issue of racial discrimination by way of misclassification and overrepresentation of these students snowballed into the recognition of other issues like disproportionality, segregation, and educational inequities (Mayes, 2023). On the other hand, I also saw how the scope of the CRMD classes would eventually lead educators to recognize the importance of providing vocational training and career and technical education to all students, not just students with disabilities.
Growing up during the Jim Crow era, Dr. Clark witnessed racism and violence in a segregated world. Being frequently the only woman in a male-dominated field, after receiving her doctorate, she had a hard time finding work. Even though Dr. Clark was privileged in several aspects of her life, her journey was not easy, and many people saw her in her husband’s shadow (Partida, 2023).
In his book entitled “The Power of a Thousand Heroes,” Dr. Soye Zaid-Muhammad describes a hero as an individual of noble character who has answered a divine call to extraordinary success for the purpose of serving others and improving society, despite facing adversity (2023).
As a school psychologist, I see Dr. Clark as a pioneer who paved the way for us not only as researchers, but as clinicians. This month marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law on July 26, 1990. In recognition of Disability Pride Month, as a woman and as a psychologist, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark’s life consisted of advocating for the educationally, intellectually, emotionally, and economically disadvantaged, which made her a true African American Hero whose legacy should not be forgotten.
References:
Americans with Disabilities Act Information (2008). Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/pi/disability/resources/ada
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Opinion; May 17, 1954; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; National Archives.
Curtis, C. (1946). Jim Crow School Kids as Mentally Unfit. New York
Amsterdam News, 1-2. New York City Civil Rights History Guide. Retrieved from: https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/jim-crow-school-kids/#fn:4
Malkin, A. (2024). Outside the Dollhouse and Into the Court: The Importance of the “Doll
Test” in Brown and Beyond. Cornell Undergraduate Law & Society Review, X(1)
Retrieved from: https://www.culsr.org/articles/outside-the-dollhouse-and-into-the-
court-the-importance-of-the-doll-test-in-brown-and-beyond
Mayes, K. A. (2023). The Unteachables: Disability Rights and the Invention of Black
Special Education. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
Murray, R. (2026). Special Education Practices: Past and Present. New York
Association of School Psychologists. XLV(2) 43-45.
Oklahoma State University (2026). College of Arts and Sciences. Mamie Phipps Clark.
Contributions. Retrieved from: https://cas.okstate.edu/psychology/psychology_museum_resource_center/special_exhibits/africanamerican_pioneers_in_psychology/clark_mamie.html
Partida, D. (2023). Mamie Phipps Clark.Kelly, A. E., & Avila, B. N (Eds.). Open History of Psychology: The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers.
Retrieved from: https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/
Photo by National Library of Medicine on Unsplash
Photo. Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mamie_Clark_1958.jpg
Smothers, R. (1983). Mamie Clark Dies; Psychologist aided Blacks. The New York Times. Section D, Page 15.
Zaid-Muhammad, S. (2023). The Power of A Thousand Heroes: Your Strategic PATH to getting unstuck, achieving divine greatness, and living an empowered Life (The PATH Series). Consultation Tower Press, NY.
