494 Ethnic Minorities
were offered and committees were formed. On September 2,
1968, the group adopted the name, The Association of
Black Psychologists and selected Charles Thomas as chair
and Robert Green as co-chair. Realizing the APA executive
board was in session at that same moment, Thomas led a
group to the meeting and the newly created Association of
Black Psychologists presented its first case before the APA.
The board agreed that Thomas and other representatives of
ABPsi should bring their concerns before the APA council
meeting in Washington, DC, scheduled for October 5–6,
1968 (B. H. Williams, 1997).
At the October meeting, a resolution expressing apprecia-
tion for Thomas’s work was passed and the council formally
urged APA to act quickly on the concerns of the ABPsi. As
part of this, plans were made for a conference to address re-
cruitment of black and other minority students and faculty in
psychology (McKeachie, 1969). Held on April 18–20, 1969,
the conference addressed issues of training and the other con-
cerns raised by ABPsi. The meeting resulted in any number
of recommendations (see Albee, 1969). By the summer of
1969, APA was preparing to gather for the annual convention
to be held in Washington, DC. As APA President George
Miller was being introduced, members of the newly formed
Black Students Psychological Association (BSPA) walked to
the stage. More literally than perhaps he anticipated, George
Miller was quickly engaged in giving psychology away as he
yielded the podium to the student association.
Chair of the BSPA, Gary Simpkins, announced that the
BSPA would present a list of demands to the APA Council of
Representatives the next day, a task that kept the Council busy
all that day. The list was familiar and resonated with the issue
brought forth before by the ABPsi. Council voiced support for
the BSPA’s position and requested a specific proposal. APA
President George Miller and President-Elect George Albee
were appointed to meet with the BSPA and the ABPsi to work
out the details. Declining an invitation to meet in Washington,
the BSPA instead selected Watts as the meeting place. Miller
and Albee flew to Los Angeles, were hosted by local families
and engaged in two days of discussion with the BSPA and the
ABPsi (see Albee’s section in this chapter for a detailed
account of the meeting). Reporting back to the APA Council on
October 4, 1969, a specific plan was presented. Gary Simpkins
and Philip Raphael (1970) of the BSPA outlined the needs for:
(a) improved recruitment of black students and faculty in
psychology, (b) a centralized information center that could
disseminate information about psychology programs and
sources of financial aid, (c) field training relevant to the needs
of black students and the black community, and (d) the expan-
sion of available black mental health professionals through the
creation of terminal programs at all degree levels.
The ABPsi national chairman, Robert Williams, addressed
the Council and in a strongly worded statement decried the
misuse of psychological tests in the diagnosis and placement
of black children in educational settings. He reiterated the
commitment of the ABPsi to serve as a resource and monitor
for policies that affected African Americans, and called for
sanctions against departments of psychology that discrimi-
nated against students of color. ABPsi’s official policy state-
ment on the retention and recruitment of black students in
graduate psychology was contained in “The Ten Point Pro-
gram.” The program, mailed to all accredited doctoral train-
ing programs in psychology, contained 10 commitments
departments could make to ensure that African American stu-
dents were accepted into and supported through doctoral
training (for the list see R. L. Williams, 1974). The APA
professed sympathy to the causes of the ABPsi and the BSPA
moved quickly to endorse the presented proposals and estab-
lished the Commission for Accelerating Black Participation
in Psychology (CABPP).
In May 1970, a curious blue insert of 31 pages appeared in
theAmerican Psychologist.Labeled as special inserts, their
purpose was to convey information quickly to members of
the association. The first special insert was a discussion
of the need for a national information system for psychol-
ogy; the second a series of reprints from the October Council
meeting. Included were the statement of the BSPA, the report
of Robert Williams, and an APA response. In that response,
the APA noted that it had given office space and funds for a
national secretariat to address acceleration of black partici-
pation in psychology, provided funding for meetings, confer-
ences, and organizing activities of the ABPsi and the BSPA,
supported the establishment of a speakers bureau, and con-
tacted psychology departments and deans to inform them of
the APA’s interest in and support of these efforts. A good
start, but nonetheless it was only a start. Ted Blau (1970)
commenting on the achievement of the CABPP noted,A majority of the APA membership is neither aware of the impor-
tance of the problem nor involved in engineering solutions.
Despite the fact that Council has demonstrated its willingness to
act quickly and directly in the matter of the challenge of change, it
is a preliminary response only. Psychologists’ total response
should not be limited to rhetoric, commissions, ad hoc commit-
tees, or logistical support from Central Office. The small begin-
ning that has been made toward recognizing injustice and
inhumanity, rectifying these and thus truly promoting human wel-
fare, must be continued and made valid by the commitment and
involvement of individual members of the association. (p. 1103)The ABPsi’s efforts to increase minority representation in
psychology continued unabated into the 1970s, the fruits of