By: Benson Cooke, Ph.D, ABPsi Historian
When an elder dies, it is like a library has been burned to the ground.
-African Proverb
On Saturday, November 20, 2021, Dr. Harold Edward Dent a Founder and Distinguished Psychologist of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), made his transition from an elder to become an ancestor.
Born August 4, 1928, Dr. Dent was born in Southampton, Long Island. Throughout his early education in New York City, and faced with the burden of institutional racism, he dreamed of making a positive difference in the lives of others by becoming a medical doctor. The confluence of worldwide events coupled with his childhood dreams would lead him in 1946 to enlist in the Army as a medic.
Unfortunately, he could not avoid the impact of institutional racism driven by segregated and restricted policies enforced within the U.S. Armed Forces during the 1940s. Despite these challenges, Dr. Dent would serve for two years as a surgical, medical, and psychiatric technician at the Fort Benning Base Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia. He would serve in the U.S. Army until his honorable discharge in December of 1948.
These experiences, more than most, taught him that education was critical for reaching his future goals and increasing his opportunities professionally. Consequently, in 1953 he would successfully complete his undergraduate degree in Psychology at Washington Square College of New York University, followed by his master’s degree in Psychology at Denver University in Denver, Colorado in 1955. Finally, in 1966 he completed his Ph.D. degree in Clinical and Counseling Psychology at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Throughout the time that he pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies, he held various jobs that included work at a hospital, a correctional facility, and a vocational rehabilitation center. In June of 1966 Dr. Dent took on the responsibility of setting up the San Francisco Regional Office of Mental Retardation Programs in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW).
Unfortunately, the continuation of systemic racist and discriminatory practices within the U.S. health and mental health care field would eventually lead Dr. Dent to resign from his employment with HEW and accept the position of Coordinator of Pupil Personnel Services in the Berkley Unified School District in Berkley, California.
During his tenure working in the Berkley Unified School District, he fought against systemic and institutional racism within the school system. His culturally conscious clinical work in testing and evaluation situated him in 1968 to join forces with a group of Black psychologists who worked toward founding the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). Subsequently, he would become the first President of the Bay Area Chapter of the ABPsi. He also collaborated with chapter colleagues to establish two key programs. The first program was a storefront counseling program. This program engaged minority and low-income parents in becoming effective advocates in their children’s education. The second program was designed to reduce the over-representation of Black students in special education.
Supported by the leadership of Dr. Dent, The Bay Area Chapter of ABPsi (one of the first chapters in the country), was petitioned by parents to address the rising issues of disparities and lack of equity in education and other mental health needs negatively affecting the Black community. It was during this time that Black parents in San Francisco became concerned about their children being placed in special education programs without parental consent due to racially/culturally biased IQ tests. ABPsi’s psychological efforts would result in the noteworthy, ‘Larry P Case’, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California in November of 1971.
Dr. Dent’s input with fellow Black Psychologists corroborated legal arguments supported by culturally salient test assessments and evaluations, resulting in preliminary hearings and injunctions and a trial that lasted eight months and encompassed ten thousand pages of manuscript. As a result of ABPsi’s clinical advocacy, a federal judge issued the landmark “Larry P Case” decision in 1979. This landmark ruling conceded that standardized IQ tests were culturally biased and banned their use on Black students in California Public Schools to place them in special education classes.
The nationwide impact of the ‘Larry P Case’ would result in Dr. Dent being a part of the first group of Black Psychologists to employ their expertise in jury selection to address problems of bias in the civil service examinations for firefighters and policemen, which, too frequently discriminated against Black applicants in the Bay Area cities. In the mid-1970’s Dr. Dent joined the staff of the Westside Community Mental Health Center (WCMHC) in San Francisco. His engagement in community work and NIMH grant writing helped to facilitate the establishment of urban community mental health programs and workshops.
In 1992, Dr. Dent would relocate from the west coast to the east coast of the U.S. when he accepted a job at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Here he served as Associate Director for Outreach at the Center for Minority Special Education (CMSE) and Research Professor of Psychology. He successfully secured federal grants to provide technical assistance to the faculty at his and other HBCU’s and Tribal Colleges.
In 1997, Dr. Dent served as the equivalent of a city manager of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, where he worked to successfully negotiate a subcontract with the Southampton Hospital for the Shinnecock Nation to provide administrative services for the health clinic on the Reservation and to serve as the first Administrator of the Shinnecock Health Services.
Years later, he would continue to be a prominent voice supporting educational enrichment in Black and Indigenous communities by supporting instructional programs designed to enable teachers, parents, and caregivers to help children learn how to learn. Throughout his lifetime Dr. Dent has given of his time, intellect, and means to serve others. The recipient of numerous acknowledgments of appreciation and awards from national, state, and professional associations, he will be remembered as a compassionate healer, psychologist, scholar, leader, and family man.
References
- Williams, R.L. (2008). History of the Association of Black Psychologists: Profiles of Outstanding Black Psychologists. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
- Thomas, W.A. (2000). (ED). Larry P. Revisited IQ Testing of African Americans. San Francisco, CA: California Publishing Company.
