[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 79 (Friday, June 3, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1049-E1050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CELEBRATING THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORTHSIDE CENTER FOR CHILD 
                           DEVELOPMENT, INC.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 3, 2011

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 65th 
Anniversary of the founding of the Northside Center for Child 
Development, Inc.
  In March of 1946, shortly upon the conclusion of World War II, two 
young African American psychologists, Mamie Phipps Clark and her 
husband, Kenneth B. Clark founded the Northside Center for Child 
Development. Originally called the Northside Testing and Consultation 
Center, the Northside Center for Child Development's first home was in 
the basement apartment located in the historic Dunbar Housing 
Development on 150th Street in Harlem.
  The research of Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark challenged the notion 
of differences in the mental abilities of black and white children, 
which played an important role in the desegregation of American 
schools. At the Center, the Clarks conducted experiments on racial 
biases in education. Their findings were presented at school 
desegregation trials in Virginia, South Carolina, and Delaware; and in 
1954, in a famous footnote, those findings were cited in Brown v. Board 
of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the landmark Supreme Court decision 
that ruled public-school segregation unconstitutional.
  Kenneth Clark was the first African American to earn a doctorate in 
psychology at Columbia, to hold a permanent professorship at the City 
College of New York, to join the New York State Board of Regents and to 
serve as president of the American Psychological Association. In 
addition to his work as a psychologist and educator, he assisted 
corporations with racial policies and minority hiring programs. His 
books include Prejudice and Your Child (1955), Dark Ghetto (1965), A 
Possible Reality (1972), and Pathos of Power (1975). During Columbia's 
student protests in 1968, Clark, whose son Hilton (Columbia College 
1968) was a leader of the Society of Afro-American Students, served as 
mediator between the black student protesters in Hamilton Hall and the 
administration.
  Mamie Phipps began studying self-perception in black children as a 
graduate student at Howard University, where she met and married 
Kenneth Clark. Between 1939 and 1940, the two published three major 
articles on this subject. Phipps Clark continued her work at Columbia 
where, in 1943, she became the first African-American woman and the 
second African American (after her husband) in the University's history 
to receive a psychology doctorate. It was her work on the way black 
children seemed to prefer white dolls to black ones that particularly 
impressed the Supreme Court justices. In 1966, Columbia recognized the 
couple's work by awarding each the Nicholas Murray Butler Silver Medal.
  Prior to the establishment of the Northside Center for Child 
Development (Northside Testing and Consultation Center), the Clarks 
decided to tackle the lack of services for troubled youth in Harlem. 
They approached nearly every social service agency throughout New York 
City with their modest proposal to urge established agencies to expand 
their programs to provide social work, psychological evaluation, and 
remediation for youth in Harlem, since at that time there were 
virtually no mental-health services in the community. Each agency they 
explored rejected their proposal and they decided to open their own 
developmental center to address those needs that were lacking for 
Harlem families and the youth.
  In 1948, Northside moved to the 6th floor of the New Lincoln School, 
located at West 110th Street across Central Park. In 1974, Northside 
moved its headquarters east one block in Schomburg Plaza on Fifth 
Avenue.
  Today, the Northside Center continues its mission to further the 
healthy development of children and families and empower them to 
respond gainfully to negative communal factors, including racism and 
its related consequences. By providing comprehensive, high quality 
mental health and educational services, coupled with research, 
Northside is able to assist children and families in their development 
to seek their full potential.
  Under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Thelma Dye, Northside 
Center doors are open to over 500 families and children who walk in on 
any given day for support, guidance, psychological evaluations, and 
therapeutic services or just to talk about their day or utilize the 
library of books available at the center.
  Mr. Speaker, in the words of Dr. Dye, ``whether children and families 
come to Northside because they are deeply troubled and look to us for 
solace, compassion, direction and understanding, or they come because 
they are excited and happy and look forward to the next enjoyable 
learning adventure, we welcome them. We work toward empowering and 
helping them learn and grow in an environment that reinforces their 
strengths, their cultures, their self-worth and their dignity. What we 
do at Northside is important, challenging and immensely rewarding.''

[[Page E1050]]

  I ask my colleagues and our Nation to join me in this special 
Congressional Recognition on the 65th Anniversary of the Northside 
Center for Child Development, Inc.

                          ____________________