"There were no 'Idiot Savants' in the Group": Mamie Phipps Clark and the Brown v. Board Decision

The success of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas is frequently linked to the work of psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark whose studies on Black children made plain the far-reaching impact of racial segregation on their development. This landmark Supreme Court case ended racial segregation in public schools by declaring them unconstitutional. In fact, replications of the Clarks' "doll test" experiment continue to inform public and professional views on how children construct and understand racial identity. Greater emphasis within public memory, however, is placed on Kenneth Clark's fieldwork rather than how Mamie Phipps Clark designed the experiment and ignores how Mamie inspired Kenneth's study of children. Her master's research at Howard University and later as a doctoral student at Columbia University laid the foundation for the couple's social psychology experiment that would factor into the Supreme Court's decision to desegregate schools. This article examines the historical contributions of Mamie Phipps Clark as a thinker and scholar in her own right.