Francis Cecil Sumner
American psychologist and founder of Howard University's psychology department
American psychologist who earned a PhD at Clark University in 1920, widely described as the first African American to receive a doctorate in psychology, and who built Howard University's psychology department.
Why this person matters
Sumner led the psychology department at Howard from 1928 and established it as independent in 1930. He taught Kenneth Clark. Funding agencies often refused to fund his research because of his race.
Main contributions
Doctorate and early career
He received his PhD from Clark University in June 1920 with a dissertation titled Psychoanalysis of Freud and Adler. He then taught at Wilberforce University, Southern University and, from fall 1921, West Virginia Collegiate Institute.
Howard University department
He joined Howard in fall 1928 as acting chair, and in 1930 established an independent psychology department, becoming its head and a full professor. He led it for more than twenty years and taught Kenneth Clark, who took a master's there in 1935.
Research and abstracting
He wrote on race psychology, racial bias in the administration of justice, colour and vision, and the psychology of religion, and wrote more than 2,000 abstracts for the Journal of Social Psychology and Psychological Bulletin.
Context and limits
The first-African-American claim appears in each source read, though none of them is a primary record of the degree, so it is attributed here rather than asserted. Sources give his death as 11 or 12 January 1954. Kenneth Clark is quoted as saying that Sumner rejected the idea of 'Black Psychology', which sits uneasily with the title often given to him.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.He appears in history and culture chapters as an early Black psychologist and as the teacher of Kenneth Clark.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1920
He received his PhD from Clark University.
- 1921
He moved to West Virginia Collegiate Institute, where he stayed to 1928.
- 1928
He joined Howard University as acting chair of psychology.
- 1930
He established an independent psychology department at Howard.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Francis Cecil SumnerReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Canadian Psychological Association, Dr. Francis Cecil SumnerSociety or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Francis Cecil SumnerReference work. Reference article inspected.