Ruth Winifred Howard

 

One of the first African American women to earn a Ph.D. in psychology born in Washington, DC on March 4, 1900, her name was Ruth Winifred Howard she was the youngest of the Protestant minister William James Howard and Alverda Brown Howard's eight children. She focused on helping disadvantaged people and this interest united to her experiences with her father's congregation made her enroll in the social work division of Simmons College, Boston in 1920.

Her first social work job was in 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio with the Cleveland Urban League as a counselor and community program coordinator.  Howard then took a position with the city's Child Welfare Agency and focused on children living in marginal family situations and in foster homes.  She realized there were lack of concern for the cultural and social milieu of the community they were serving and she thought this fact was a barrier to understanding the feelings, attitudes, and behaviors of these children. Realizing the importance of developing this kind of understanding, she decided to study psychology.

Howard won a Laura Spelman Rockefeller Fellowship and, in 1929, enrolled at Columbia University and during her year there she took classes at School of Education and at the New York School of Social Work, with courses in psychology, child development, and a parent education practicum.  In 1930 Howard transferred to the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development where she completed her doctorate in psychology in 1934. Her supervisor and mentor was Dr. Florence Goodenough who, at the time, was working on the Draw-a-Man test.

For her doctoral research, Howard studied the developmental history of 229 sets of triplets, ranging in age from early infancy up to 79 years.  This work eventually published in both the Journal of Psychology (1946) and the Journal of Genetic Psychology (1947).

Following her graduation from the University of Minnesota, she married fellow psychologist Dr. Albert Sidney Beckham and moved to Chicago where he was employed.  Howard accepted an internship at the Illinois Institute of Juvenile Research it prepared her for a career dedicated to children and young people and included evaluation and therapy, as well as experience at a state school for delinquent girls. 

A perceived need to refresh her skills led Howard to pursue postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago where she studied projective techniques, reading therapy, play therapy, and client-centered therapy with Carl Rogers and Virginia Axline. 

Howard remained in Chicago and continued her private practice work in addition to working as a psychologist at the McKinley Center for Retarded Children (1964-1966), during this time her husband died (1964)

At the end of her 1983 autobiographical essay Howard paid tribute to the women psychologists who have contributed to the growth and development of psychology and noted that so-called minority groups have also shared in this progressShe closed by stating, “I salute women psychologists as they receive recognition within their field and when they help other women attain their potential”. Ruth Howard died on February 12, 1997 in Washington, DC.

Bibliography:

http://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/ruth-howard-biography.aspx

http://www.feministvoices.com/ruth-howard/

 

http://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/afroam/pics/rhoward.jpg

Carolyn R. Payton (1925-2001)

 

Background

Carolyn R. Payton was born in Norfolk, Virginia on May 13^th 1925. Her grandparents were former slaves and African royalty. Her father was a chef and her mother was a seamstress and homemaker. Payton’s family was very close-knit and her parents valued the importance of education. Payton lived in Washington D.C. for the majority of her life. She married Raymond Rudolph Payton, a police detective, but the marriage lasted less than four years and the two divorced in 1951. Carolyn Payton died in her home on April 11^th2001. Payton is remembered for her contributions to the psychology of minorities and her vast achievements throughout her life.

In 1945, Payton obtained her bachelor’s degree in home economics from Bennett College for women in North Carolina. She then pursued the study of psychology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She was the only black graduate student in her class and received her master’s degree in clinical psychology in 1948. Payton wrote her master’s thesis on the comparison between white and black intelligence in which she found no differences. Immediately after obtaining her master’s degree she was hired as an instructor in psychology at Livingstone College, North Carolina. She was the only psychologist in the faculty. In 1953, Payton was hired as the Dean of Women with an appointment in psychology at Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia. During this time she was also taking classes at Columbia University to obtain her PhD in counseling psychology, which she was finally awarded in 1962. In 1959, she became assistant professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she studied the perception of primates and taught abnormal psychology, child psychology, and even experimental psychology. She then became involved in the Peace Corps as a member and field selection officer. In 1966, Payton was appointed deputy director of the Peace Corps. She returned to Howard University from 1970 to 1977 to direct the University of Counseling Service. In 1977, she was appointed Peace Corps director by President Jimmy Carter. Payton was the first women and first African American to perform the job. After tension with the director of action, Sam Brown, forced her to resign in 1979 she returned to Howard University again to become Dean of Counseling and Career Development. During this time she focused on minority psychology especially for African Americans.

Psychology of Women

            Payton made many contributions to the field of psychology through her membership in the American Psychological Association (APA). During her 40 years as a member she worked with underrepresented groups such as women, gays, and lesbians. She gave these groups a voice and advocated for their equality. From 1979 to 1982 Payton was the chair of the APA committee on women in psychology.  In 1985 she received the distinguished leader for women in psychology award from the APA committee on women in psychology. This was followed by another award from the APA in 1977 for outstanding lifetime contributions to psychology. Payton is known for her outstanding work with women and other minority groups.

Refrences

http://www.feministvoices.com/carolyn-robertson-payton/

http://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/women/p-sp.html

http://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/carolyn-payton-biography.aspx

 

Posted by Amanda Corwin