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 ³experience with little regard for African foundations.´ Radical ± African ethos is the way to analyze Black behavior independent of European theory. It includes ³African 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 ³Father 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: ³the 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 ethnohuman 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.