[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 3, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            KENNETH B. CLARK

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 3, 2005

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay honor to Kenneth B. 
Clark, an educator and psychologist who spent his life working to 
improve the lives of African-American children, It is Clark's 
pioneering research on the detrimental effects of racial segregation in 
schools that was cited by the Supreme Court in the landmark 1954 
ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education.
  Clark was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1914 and, at age 5, moved 
with his family to a tenement in New York City to pursue the American 
Dream. Clark eventually earned his Masters degree from Howard 
University. Clark went on to become the first African-American to earn 
a doctorate in psychology at Columbia and also the first to hold a 
permanent professorship at the City College of New York. While teaching 
psychology at City College, Clark developed an interest in the effects 
of segregation on children and conducted his famous study on school 
segregation. This study demonstrated how racial segregation marred the 
development of black students and eventually influenced the landmark 
Supreme Court case.
  After his professorship, Clark continued his work for children and 
became the first African-American to join the New York State Board of 
Regents, and again the first African-American to serve as president of 
the American Psychological Association. He belonged to a number of 
other prestigious organizations including the New York Urban 
Development Corporation, the Society for Psychological Studies of 
Social Issues, and Phi Beta Kappa. He founded Harlem Youth 
Opportunities Unlimited and, with his wife Mamie Phillips, formed what 
became the North side Center for Child Development.
  After retiring from the Board of Regents, Clark began his own 
consulting firm in my district, in Hastings-On-Hudson, New York. 
Kenneth B. Clark and Associates assists corporations with racial 
policies, affirmative action, and other minority hiring programs. Clark 
wrote many books, including ``Prejudice and Your Child'' and ``Dark 
Ghetto'' and was awarded many honors for his life's work.
  Clark dedicated his life to improving racial equality and never 
abandoned his belief in the importance of equal access to education, 
regardless of race. His free thinking and steadfast commitment to this 
racial equality will sorely be missed.

                          ____________________