Clark's Legacy Case Study

This true story is based on two African American males who grew up with many similarities but landed a completely different outcome in life. One of the main similarities is their name, Wes Moore. Both Wes Moore’s grew up in a fatherless home, born in the same neighborhood of Baltimore during the 1970’s, and both were handcuffed before age 11. The same question remains. How did one end up as a scholar, veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader and the other one end up serving a life sentence for a robbery that ended in the murder of a police officer? The book reflects how developmental psychology is implemented by focusing on the physical, social, and cultural environments influence developments that occur over time.

Over thousands of blacks were discriminated in the 1950s because of their skin color. Blacks and whites were prohibited to go to the same school just because of their skin color. However, in the year of 1957 the Little Rock Nine were the first nine black students that integrated to Central High. If this group of people didn’t have the courage to attend Central High our schools would be extremely different today.

A Broader Problem that plagues Black males are not totally the responsibility of the public schools, but are a responsibility of society as a whole (Delpit, 1995). We can say, however, that the public schools do play a major role in addressing the problems of Black male students. The educational experiences and the support services afforded Black male students could play an

Throughout the 1950’s segregation and civil rights was a big problem, but in 1957 three years after the U.S Supreme Court ruled segregation of American schools unconstitutional with the case of Brown vs. Board of Education a huge uprising took place when nine African American students integrated an all white school, they would become known as the little rock nine. “The Little Rock Nine were recruited by Daisy Gaston Bates President of the Arkansas NAACP and co publisher with her husband L.C Bates of Arkansas State Press”( “Integration of Central High School”). Before any of the students started school they participated in intensive counseling sessions guiding them on what to expect once classes began an how to respond to hostile

Leroy Berry grew up in “Black Philadelphia”—a community where “structural inequalities and racism” creates “a unique Afro-American…subculture” (Lane 226). Growing up in “the streets” caused him to realize that he never wanted his kids to go through what he did, and he strived to get out. Due to the awful education system given to urban black youth, Leroy Berry realized he could not get out of the “hood” through his education alone and realized he had to excel in basketball to even attempt to leave. This migration up in society is a plight many black citizens face. “In the modern American economy…it has grown difficult, perhaps impossible, for any large block of citizens to move up as a group. And it is hard to predict whether all this will change in ways that improve the position of the nation’s impoverished blacks” (Lane 366). Leroy Berry didn’t believe he’d ever get out of the environment white America provided for black urban youth.

In the novel, The Street by Ann Petry the main character Lutie Johnson, a black woman is a single mother raising her son Bub in 1944 Harlem. Lutie, separated from her husband Jim faces many challenges including poverty, sexism, and racism. Children, like her son Bub, living in poverty in the 1940’s cared for themselves while single mothers like Lutie were working; the same is still true today. Lutie was trying to earn a living in order to get Bub and herself out of Harlem, and into a neighborhood where Bub would have a better living conditions including school. Bub was afraid to be alone in their apartment so he spent a great deal of time on the street around external influences that were not the ideal. The street educated Bub instead of the school system. In Harlem, in 1944, poor, black children advanced though the school system whether they were able to read and write or not, the same is true for impoverished children today. In Bub’s neighborhood, his schoolteacher was a white woman who was prejudice against Bub and his classmates based on their skin color and their economic situation. Children like Bub, living in impoverished communities, do not have access to good education and miss the opportunity that education brings due to racism and poverty.

Kenneth Bancroft Clark Psychologist and educator Kenneth Bancroft Clark was the first black president of the American Psychological Association. Kenneth Bancroft Clark was born on July 24, 1914 in the Panama Canal Zone. He was also the first black Ph. D recipient in Columbia University history. He was the first Black professor to gain tenure at the City College of New York (1960), the first African-American elected by the New York legislature to serve on the State Board of Regents (1968), and the first Black elected President of the American Psychological Association (1971).

As a student and teacher, Terrell witnessed the poor education in the black community and decided to refine it by providing the unprivileged, colored families with free kindergarten care for their children. In her speech, “The Progress of Colored Women”, Terrell emphasizes the importance of education and the necessity of free kindergartens, for colored children, in elevating the black race. She says, “the more unfavorable the environments of the children, the more necessary it is that steps be taken to counteract baleful influences on innocent victims”. Terrell realized the benefits of free education for colored, claiming that early education would reduce the amount of blacks in jail because it would minimize exposure to negative behavior and bad habits at an early age. Furthermore, it would allow mothers to finish and focus more on school or work (Terrell). As a solution, Mary Church Terrell and the National Association of Colored Women collected funds in order to build “kindergartens, vocational schools, summer camps and homes for elderly” (Wormser). Not only did they build schools, but they also funded activities for the disadvantaged, colored children. Vernessa Elaine Curry, writes, a case study on the education of African Americans, in which she states, “The first department established in the NACW was the kindergarten department. Mary Church Terrell and other

The local schools were a source of communal pride and were priceless to African-American families when poverty and segregation limited severely the life chances of the pupils. A major part

Within the article, Robert Coles shares experiences and quotes from a college junior who once told him, “I want to help kids I know.”(Robert Coles, pg.94) Cole believed he seemed both voluble and impassioned. As the college junior tutors in the ghetto, he teaches the children that there is a better life outside of the world they are currently living in, provided they study hard and receive a good education. The junior has a remarkable sense on what

To eliminate the behavioral deficiencies associated with poverty, the Harlem Children’s Zone organized a pipeline of programs. The eagerly desirous of achieving the mission of the Harlem Children’ Zone is to discontinuity the succession of poverty in an entire vicinity, coaching every child lacking sufficient money to accomplish their goals by the means of achieving adequate college education. Geoffrey Canada had a vision, which is to restore a geographical area embedded by poverty by guarding the children on track of success.

Most young black American’s believed that they couldn’t become successful in this nation full of oppression. On average, black family’s earned half the income of whites and were twice as likely to be unemployed. Hope of becoming successful for a young black American was grim. Fortunately, one thing

Over time, with the assistance of noted strong-willed African-Americans and the more liberal white American citizens, African Americans began to realize their value and intellect. This realization brought about a change in the mind-set of blacks in America. Having a new frame of mind, African-Americans began to take a stand against the prejudices and injustices that beleaguered them. Leadership in the African-American community emerged, despite the hardships

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

As a young black girl growing up in the 1970’s without a mother living in Brooklyn, one of the most racially diverse places in the United States, these situations presents