The Challenge of Change: Formation of the Association of Black Psychologists 493hearings in the Supreme Court and in the court of public
opinion. Expressions of dissatisfaction with the ongoing
neglect of the rights and needs of those who fell outside the
majority culture were everywhere and the field of psychology
was no exception. Psychology, like many other disciplines
and institutions, was indicted for its neglect of issues impact-
ing its members from traditionally underrepresented groups.
African American psychologists were among the first to
organize and confront American psychology with a demand
for change.
For most of the twentieth century, the steady growth in the
number of PhDs awarded in psychology was restricted largely
to white males. The first PhD awarded to an African American
came in 1920, the recipient being Frances Cecil Sumner
(Guthrie, 1998). Between 1920 and 1966, 25 of America’s
largest doctoral granting institutions in psychology awarded
over 10,000 PhDs, 93 of which were granted to African Amer-
icans (Wispe et al., 1969). The barriers for African Americans
seeking advanced study in psychology were many and long
lasting. Those who did manage to carry on were never far
from the realization of their marginalized status within psy-
chology. This was clearly reflected in the relationship
between African American psychologists and the largest
professional organization of psychologists in America, the
American Psychological Association (APA). Like the society
in which it existed, the APA failed to address the needs of
African Americans, both as psychologists and as consumers
of psychology. Major training conferences, such as the 1949
Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical
Psychology, concerned as it was with the mental health needs
of the nation, did not include black psychologists (Baker &
Benjamin, 2000). Indeed, it was not until the Vail conference
of 1973 that issues of concern to minority psychologists
would receive an extended hearing (Hilliard, 1973).
By the late 1960s, relations between the American Psy-
chological Association and African American psychologists
were not good. Some in the majority would argue that the
organization had taken action. They would point to the policy
statement of the 1950s affirming that the association would
only hold meetings in cities where there was no discrimina-
tion based on race or religion (Newcomb, 1957). They would
hold up as evidence the efforts of the Society for the Psycho-
logical Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) that had demanded an
examination of the training and employment needs of African
American psychologists and in doing so helped to create
the Committee on Equality of Opportunity in Psychology
(CEOP) in 1963 (Guthrie, 1998).
For many African American psychologists, these deeds
were seen as minor achievements, a smattering of actions that
neglected significantly larger and far more devastating social
ills facing the African American community. Membership in
the APA was not widely sought by African American psychol-
ogists, largely based on the belief that the organization did not
care to recognize or represent them (B. H. Williams, 1997).
African American psychologists were angry, a situation
only made worse by social scientists whose reports to the
federal government blamed the African American community
for the ills that beset it. Most noticeably, the Moynihan report
of 1965 offered as social science, a theory of urban decay
based on the dysfunction of the black family. Unwilling to
accept that African American men, women, and children were
to blame for the ravages of prejudice and discrimination,
African American psychologists continued to organize.
Reacting to the victim blaming of the Moynihan report, it was
pointed out that white supremacy and racism were the culprits
needing investigation, a conclusion affirmed in part by the
Kerner Commission report of 1968 (Herman, 1995). Refusing
to accept a deficiency model, many African Americans joined
the chorus of the black identity movement, finding power and
pride in a black identity that looked to African ancestry as a
guide for life (Parham, White, & Ajamu, 2000). The synergy
of the black power and identity movement and increasing
frustration and alienation from the APA helped to set the stage
for the formal organization of the Association of Black
Psychologists (ABPsi).
In 1968, Abraham Maslow was president of the APA
which had scheduled its annual meeting in San Francisco.
Being in San Francisco in 1968 with a group of psychologists
led by the humanist Maslow would seem to have all the in-
gredients for a love in. For a group of African American psy-
chologists in attendance, the love-in was out and organization
and protestation were in.
The historical record is fairly clear in naming Charles
Williams Thomas II (1926–1990) as the key organizer of
the ABPsi (Guthrie, 1998; B. H. Williams, 1997). It was
Williams who encouraged African American psychologists to
attend the San Francisco meeting and engage in a dialogue
about the formation of a national association. On the evening
of August 31, 1968, Williams convened a small group meet-
ing to discuss the discontent of African American psycholo-
gists with the APA. The group called for the creation of a
national association of African American psychologists and
delineated a series of issues that demanded APA’s immediate
attention. These included efforts to increase recruitment of
African American students in psychology, greater representa-
tion of African American psychologists within the APA, the
development of means to provide mental health services to
the African American community, and an endorsement rec-
ognizing the black power and identity movement as a cred-
itable tool for fighting white racism.
The next day, a larger gathering convened for further dis-
cussion. In addition to conversation and debate, resolutions