By: Donica Harper, MA
I want to take a moment and thank you for the struggles, the pain, and the hard work that helped pave the way for someone like me: a Black therapist, a Black student, a Black womxn, and a Black child. While our classes may not have shown us who you are, through future research, we discovered all the things that you did to help our community and our country better understand who we are. People do not understand that representation is vitally important to self-esteem, self-confidence, and identity. Representation affords us the opportunity to see that another person—another Black person-has accomplished what we are wishing and praying to accomplish. While there is still learning, researching, and healing to be done in our communities, it has been so rewarding to see so many different individuals take the time to advance the field and make our presence known. With that said, I will say some of their names not because they need it but because others need to know how far Black people and Black psychology has come. Thank you:
Joseph White
Mamie Phipps Clark
Robert Lee Williams
Kenneth Clark
Inez Beverly Prosser
Francis Sumner
Albert Sidney Beckham
George Canada
Janet Helms
Jessica Henderson Daniel
Carlton Goodlett
Robert Val Guthrie
Carl Hart
Reginald Jones
Hope Landrine
Charles Thompson
Harriette Pipes McAdoo
Linda James Myers
Beverly Daniel Tatum
Alberta Turner
Kitch Childs
Jennifer Eberhardt
Beverly Greene
Anthony Greene
April Harris- Britt
Konjit Page
Stephen Ruffins
While this is nowhere near a comprehensive list of the individuals who have shaped Black lives, it does show us that some people are just within our reach, and others have come before us so that we can continue to reach. This open letter is a call to current Black students and Black alumni that you belong in this field! You belong in this world! We are standing on the shoulders of our ancestors and the Black psychologists that came before us. While the country has only given us one month, we know that every day we are Black, and every day we get to see the work that our ancestors have done and the work we still have yet to do. Do not let the work go in vain, and remember, even a phoenix grows through the ashes.
