14

2� � �

African-CenteredPsychology in the

Modern Era

DEFINITIONS

Those who have not had the benefit of reading the first, second, or third edi-tions of The Psychology of Blacks, or who are otherwise unfamiliar with the con-cept of a Black psychological perspective, may be asking themselves “What isthis discipline called Black or African-American psychology?” As such, perhapsthe most logical place to begin this fourth edition is with a definition of the con-struct (psychology of Blacks) and with a discussion of why an African-centeredpsychological perspective is necessary.

Nobles (1986) reminds us that in its truest form, psychology was definedby ancient Africans as the study of the soul or spirit. He writes:

A summary reading of our ancient mythology reveals that ancientEgyptian thought can be characterized as possessing (1) “ideas ofthought” which represent the human capacity to hay “will” and toinvent or create; (2) “ideas of command” which represent the humancapacity to have “intent” and to produce that which one wills.Parenthetically these two, will and intent, are the characteristics ofdivine spirit and would serve as the best operationalization ofhuman intelligence. (Nobles, 1986, p. 46)

Nobles further asserts that the psychology that was borrowed from Africaand popularized in Europe and America (so-called Western psychology) in somerespects represents a distortion of ancient African-Egyptian thought. What the an-cients believed was that the study of the soul or spirit was translated by Europeansinto the study of only one element of a person’s psychic nature, the mind.

In a similar vein, Akbar (1994) has persuasively argued that the Kemetic(so-called Egyptian) roots of psychology bear little resemblance to the modern-day

Copyright 2016. Psychology Press.

All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.

EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGEAN: 1081379 ; Thomas A Parham, Adisa Ajamu, Joseph L. White.; Psychology of Blacks : Centering Our Perspectives in the African ConsciousnessAccount: s8994265.main.ehost

constructs. Akbar explains, for example, that the term sakhu represented in itsoriginal form illumination and enlightenment of the soul or spirit. However, thisperspective lost its meaning when the Greeks reinterpreted it to mean behaviorand created a discipline to quantify, measure, and materialize the construct ob-jectively.

Thus, the term “psychology” (in a Western context) is constructed from thewords psyche (meaning mind) and ology (meaning knowledge or study of) and isgenerally assumed to be a study of human behavior. What is fascinating to see,even as we write this fourth edition text, is how little has changed in traditionalpsychology’s coverage of its African psychology roots. Over the past decade,there are dozens of new and revised introductory and general psychology textsthat have been written, and still we find coverage of African psychology and itsdiscipline’s Kemetic roots conspicuous by its absence. Nevid (2007), for example,in the several hundred page text, continues to define psychology in ways that notonly avoids the soul or spiritual elements, but does not differ appreciably in itsdefinitions from other text books from years past. Ironically, Myers (2010), in hismagnificent 717-page introductory psychology text that many consider a standardin the field, defines psychology as “the science of behaviors and mentalprocesses” (p.6). Behaviors in that context are defined as “anything an organismdoes (as an observable action),” while mental processes are defined as “internalsubjective experiences we infer from behaviors (sensations, perceptions, beliefs,feelings).” Despite the fact that he does a wonderful job of desegregating the textwith pictures of African-American adults and children, includes pictures and men-tion several well-known African-American psychologists from history’s past, andincludes a brand new section of one chapter on the variable of culture, the entirebook never discusses the notion of an African-centered psychology or an Africancultural reality in the discipline. What makes this omission curious is the timelineof people and events in psychology that frames the beginning of the Myers text.It includes Francis Cecil Sumner (the first African American to receive a Ph.D inpsychology in 1920), Kenneth and Mamie Clark (and their groundbreaking workon doll preference and racial self-identification that was used in the Brown 1954Supreme Court decision), Inez Proser (the first African-American woman to re-ceive her Ph.D in America at the University of Cincinnati in 1933), and the factthat psychology differs across cultures. However, there is no mention of any cul-turally specific psychology or the plethora of literature on multiculturalism(Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander, 2001; Sue, Ivey, & Pedersen, 1996; Sue &Sue, 2003), African psychology (Nobles, 1986; Myers, 1988; Kambon, 1992 Asante,2003; Ani, 1994; Akbar, 2004; Neville, Tynes, & Utsey, 2009; White, 1972, 1984),and cultural competence (Pope-Davis, Coleman, Liu, & Toporek, 2003; Ivey,D’Andrea, Bradford-Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 2002; Constantine & Sue, 2005) thatdominate much of the counseling landscape. Within these realms, you find exten-sive references to psychology’s true origins, yet those students being introducedto the discipline for the first time find no such mention or coverage in their intro-ductory coursework. This is but one of the many reasons this text is so necessary.

As previously noted, psychology has been around for thousands ofyears and dates back to ancient KEMET (sometimes illustrated as KMT)

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 15

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

16 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

(African-Egyptian) civilizations (Nobles, 1986). However, as a discipline, psy-chology, like history, anthropology, and many other fields of study, has fallenvictim to the attempts by many to both: (1) destroy and/or otherwise erase itshistorical connections to ancient Africa and (2) transplant its roots intoEuropean civilization. We are reminded by Nevid (2007) and Myers (2010) thattraditional psychology, as we know it in this country, was assumed to extendback only as far as the laboratories of Wilhelm Wundt in Germany around1879. In its simplest form, traditional psychology was an attempt to explain thebehaviors of the Europeans from a European frame of reference. After becom-ing popularized in America, Euro-American scientists began to engage in thesame practice of defining and understanding the behaviors of various Euro-American peoples.

In their attempt to understand the mind and behaviors of their people,many European and Euro-American scholars began to develop theories ofhuman behavior (i.e., Freud, Jung, Rogers). Theories are sets of abstract con-cepts that people assign to a group of facts or events in order to explain them.Theories of personality and/or psychology, then, are organized systems of be-lief that help us understand human nature and make sense out of scientific dataand other behavioral phenomena. It is important to realize, however, that theo-ries are based on philosophies, customs, mores, and norms of a given culture.This has certainly been true for those theories that emerged out of the Euro-American frame of reference.

In their attempt to explain what they considered to be “universal humanphenomena,” Euro-American psychologists implicitly and explicitly began to es-tablish a normative standard of behavior against which all other cultural groupswould be measured. What emerged as normal or abnormal, sane or insane, rel-evant or irrelevant, was always in comparison to how closely a particularthought or behavior paralleled that of White Europeans and/or EuropeanAmericans. For many White social scientists and psychologists, the worddifferent (differences among people) became synonymous with deficient,rather than simply different.

The presumptive attempt at establishing a normative standard for humancognition, emotion, and behavior was questionable at best for obvious reasons.The philosophical basis of this body of theory and practice, which claims to ex-plain and understand “human nature,” is not authentic or applicable to allhuman groups (Nobles, 1986). White (1972) in his article “Towards a BlackPsychology” speaks to this issue clearly when he contends that “it is difficult ifnot impossible to understand the lifestyles of Black people using traditionalpsychological theories, developed by White psychologists to explain White be-havior.” White further asserts that when these theories are applied to differentpopulations, many weakness-dominated and inferiority-oriented conclusionsemerge. The foundation for an authentic Black psychology is an accurate un-derstanding of the Black family, its African roots, historical development andcontemporary expressions, and its impact on the psychological developmentand socialization of its members. One has only to examine the psychological lit-erature as it relates to Black people to appreciate White’s point.

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 17

Appreciation of White’s (1972) perspective is enhanced when one looksfirst at the so-called science of psychology and then at the resulting conclusionsthat emerge from these research practices. In commenting on the science ofpsychology, Boykin (1979) argues that there are inherent biases and subjectiv-ity in the investigation and application of scientific principles despite theirclaims to the contrary. Thus, he believes that biases inherent in Eurocentric per-spectives render research investigations and resulting conclusions invalid atmost, or at least, inappropriate.

It is important to note, however, that questions of bias could be dealt within less confrontive ways if one believed the intent of scientists and psychologi-cal scholars to be honorable. When one considers that scientific intent was andis supported by racist ideologies (Guthrie, 1976; Hilliard, 1997; Nobles, 1986;Thomas & Sillen, 1972;), then challenging and confronting those biases becomeeven more important. As such, one can now better appreciate the critique ofscience and psychological (scientific) inquiry provided by Nobles (1986), whoargues that research has been used as a tool of oppression and represents aform of “scientific colonialism.”

The construct of colonialism harkens back to times of old when manyEuropean countries/nations (but not exclusively so) sought to conquer andcontrol the human and natural resources of a certain country or region of theworld. In essence, they were acquiring by force the people, land, and bothnatural and economic resources belonging to a particular nation. The term“scientific colonialism” then represents the political control of knowledge andinformation, in order to advance a particular group’s agenda and/or preventanother group from advancing its own. According to Nobles, scientific colonialismis operationalized in several ways. These include:

Unsophisticated Falsification: deliberate attempts to erase and/or oth-erwise disguise the African origins of an idea or the historical contribu-tions of African people;

Integrated Modificationism: assimilation of a known concept into ex-isting ideas such that the result is a distorted version of the original mean-ing and intent; and

Conceptual Incarceration: where all information is viewed from a sin-gle perspective to the exclusion of other world views or frameworks.

As a consequence of this biased and inappropriate method of inquiry,much of the research and scholarship written by European Americans aboutAfrican Americans is severely tainted. Let us now turn our attention to the out-comes and resulting conclusions of that science.

HISTORICAL THEMES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Historically, research on minorities in general and Blacks in particular hasshifted focus several times. In fact, Thomas and Silen (1972) and Sue (1978)concluded that it is difficult to fully understand and appreciate the status of

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

18 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

ethnic minority research without reference to several general themes or models.These models include: (1) the inferiority model, (2) the deprivations/deficitmodel, and (3) the multicultural model. Table 2.1 provides a conceptual outlineof these research trends, and a brief review follows.

Inferiority Models

The inferiority model generally contends that Black people are inferior toWhites. Its focus emerges out of the theories of genetics and heredity, whichcontend that the development of the human species is determined by heredityand views this process of development as “in the blood” or encoded in thegenes. This model apparently afforded for some a scientific basis for viewingBlacks as inferior. Examples of these assertions of racial inferiority, as reportedby Clark (1972) were heard as early as 1799 when Professor Charles Whitespoke of the Negro as being “just above the ape in the hierarchy ofanimal/human development, having a small brain, deformed features, an ape-like odor, and an animal immunity to pain.” These inferiority assertions contin-ued into the mid-1800s, when studies on cranial capacities showed that aEuropean skull held more pepper seed than an African skull, and thus con-cluded that Blacks have inferior brains and limited capacity for mental growth(Clark, 1972). These assertions of racial inferiority continued well into the 1900sand were promoted by many leading Euro-American psychologists. In fact, acomprehensive examination of the literature related to the history and systemsof psychology would reveal that in every decade encompassing 1900 to 1970,there was a prominent American psychologist (many of whom were presidentsof the American Psychological Association [APA]) who was a proponent of thegenetic inferiority hypothesis (Guthrie, 1976, 1998). Although such facts may be

TABLE 2.1 Historical Themes in Black Psychological Research

Inferiority Deficit-Deficiency Multi-Cultural

Definition Blacks are intellectu-ally, physically, andmentally inferior toWhites

Blacks deficient with respect to intelli-gence, cognitive styles,family structure

All culturally dis-tinct groups havestrengths andlimitations.

Etiology ofProblem

Genetics/heredity, Lack of proper environ-mental stimulation;racism and oppressiveconditions, individual

Differencesviewed as differ-ent; lack of skillsneeded toassimilate

RelevantHypothesisand Theories

Genetic inferiority,Eugenics

Cultural deprivation,Cultural enrichment

ResearchExamples

White (2010)Morton (1839)Jensen (1969)

Moynihan (1965)Kardiner andOvesey (1951)

J. White (1972)Nobles (1972;1981)

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 19

new information for many students in psychology, certainly most students andlaypersons are aware of the well-publicized assertions of racial and intellectualinferiority by Arthur Jensen (1969).

Deficit-Deficiency Model

The deficit-deficiency model began to emerge around the late 1950s to early1960s, and suggested that Blacks are somehow deficient with respect to intelli-gence, perceptual skills, cognitive styles, family structure, and other factors.Unlike the inferiority model, the set of hypotheses suggested that environmen-tal rather than hereditary factors were responsible for the presumed deficienciesin Blacks. Dhe deficit model arose in opposition to the inferiority model andwas formed by more liberal-minded psychological and educational researcherswho sought to place on society the burden for Black people’s presumed men-tal and intellectual deficiencies. For example, it was somehow concluded thatthe effects of years of racism and discrimination had deprived most Black peo-ple of the strengths to develop healthy self-esteems (Kardiner & Ovesey, 1951)and legitimate family structures (Moynihan, 1965). From this deficit model camesuch hypotheses as “cultural deprivation,” which presumed that because of theinadequate exposure to Euro-American values, norms, customs, and lifestyles,Blacks were indeed “culturally deprived” and required cultural enrichment.

Implicit in the concept of cultural deprivation, however, is the notion thatthe dominant White middle-class culture established that normative standarddiscussed earlier in these writings. Thus, any behaviors, values, and lifestylesthat differed from the Euro-American norm were seen as deficient. By andlarge, the model of the Black family that has received the most attention hasbeen the deficit-deficiency model. This model begins with the historicalassumption that there was no carry over from Africa to America of any sophis-ticated African based form of family life in communal living. The assumptionfurther indicates that either viable patterns of family life did not exist becauseAfricans were incapable of creating them or they were destroyed beginningwith slavery in the separation of biological parents and children, forced breed-ing, the slave master’s sexual exploitation of Black women, and the cumulativeeffects of three hundred years of economic social discrimination. The deficit-deficiency model assumes that as a result of this background of servitude, depri-vation, second-class citizenship, and chronic unemployment, Black adults havenot been able to develop marketable skills, self-sufficiency, future orientation,planning and decision-making competencies, and instrumental behaviorsthought to be necessary for sustaining a successful two-parent nuclear familywhile guiding children through the socialization process.

A variation of the deficit-deficiency model was the Black matriarchymodel. In a society that placed a premium on decisive male leadership in thefamily, the Black male was portrayed as lacking the masculine sex role behav-iors characterized by logical thinking, willingness to take responsibility for oth-ers, assertiveness, managerial skills, achievement orientation, and occupationalmastery. In contrast, the Black female was portrayed by this model as a matriarch

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

20 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

who initially received her power because society was unwilling to permit theBlack male to assume the legal, economic, and social positions necessary to be-come a dominant force within the family and community life. Having achievedthis power by default, the Black female was portrayed as being unwilling toshare it. Her unwillingness to share her power was presumed to persist evenwhen the Black male was present and willing to assume responsibility in thefamily circle, since she was not confident of the male’s ability to follow throughon his commitments. Confrontation over decision making and family directionwas usually not necessary because either the Black male was not present in thehousehold on any ongoing basis or he was regarded as ineffective by the fe-male when he was present.

Multicultural Model

The rise in the multicultural model has been stimulated by the contention thatbehaviors, lifestyles, languages, and so on can only be judged as appropriate orinappropriate within a specific cultural context (Grier & Cobbs, 1968; White,1972; Pedersen, 1999; Sue, Ivey, & Pederson, 1996; Ponterotto et al., 2001; Sue& Sue, 2003; White & Henderson, 2008). The multicultural model assumes andrecognizes that each culture has strengths and limitations, and rather than beingviewed as deficient, differences among ethnic groups are viewed as simply dif-ferent. More recent contributions to the multicultural literature have followed inthese same footsteps and continue to contribute to a more enlightened under-standing of culturally different people generally (Hall, 2010), African American(Jones, 2003; Hilliard, 1997; Parham, 2002), Latinos (Santiago-Rivera,Arredondo, & Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian Americans (Loo, 1998), and evenpersons with disabilities (Stone, 2005). Although the multicultural model is thelatest trend in research with respect to minorities in general and AfricanAmericans in particular, and is certainly a more positive approach to researchwith culturally distinct groups, it is by no means immune to conceptual andmethodological flaws that have plagued psychological research efforts bothpast and present.

In some respects, this new emphasis on ethnic pluralism has helped re-searchers focus on culture-specific models in a multicultural context. Africanpsychology has been the forerunner of an ethnic and cultural awareness inpsychology that has worked its way into the literature on child development,self-image, family dynamics, education, communication patterns, counseling andpsychotherapy, and mental health delivery systems. The blossoming of African-centered psychology has been followed by the assertion on the part of AsianAmerican (Sue & Wagner, 1973; Sue, 1981), Chicano (Martinez, 1977), andNative American (Richardson, 1981) psychologists that sociocultural differencesin the experiential field must be considered as legitimate correlates of behavior.The development of an ethnic dimension in psychology suggested that othernon-White Americans wanted to take the lead in defining themselves ratherthan continuing the process of being defined by the deficit-deficiency models ofthe majority culture. The evolution of the ethnic and cultural perspective enlarged

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 21

the scope of psychology. It served as a corrective step that reduced psychol-ogy’s reliance on obsolete and inaccurate stereotypes in defining culturally dis-tinct people. This movement has now exploded onto the field of counselingpsychology as more and more professionals recognize, as Sue, Ivey, andPederson (1996) so rightly acknowledge, that traditional theories of counselingand psychotherapy inadequately describe, explain, predict, and deal with therichness of a culturally diverse population. Their admonition is echoed by ahost of new and exciting research and scholarship that speaks to the necessityof culturally specific and culturally diverse theories, assessments, and therapeu-tic practices in the areas of Latino(a) psychology (Santiago-Rivera, Arredondo,& Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian psychology (Loo, 1998), traditional healingpractices (Moodley & West, 2005; Mc Neill & Cervantes, 2008), and even disabil-ity studies (Stone, 2005).

Black Behavioral Norms

Given the negative conceptions of Black people and Black behavior thatemerged from the Euro-American frame of reference, it was clear that an alter-nate frame of reference was not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.Whether one considers the awarding of Sumner’s degree in 1920, the establish-ment of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968, or the era inancient KMT, as the marker for the establishment of the discipline of Blackpsychology, is an interesting debate (Nobles, 1986). What is undebatable,however, is the recognition that general psychology had failed to provide a fulland accurate understanding of the Black reality. As such, the discipline of Blackpsychology and the new emergence of an African psychological perspective canbe defined as a discipline in science (continuing to evolve) that is attempting tostudy, analyze, and define appropriate and inappropriate behaviors of Blackand African people from an Afrocentric frame of reference.

A second point made by White (1972) in his article that is reinforced byWhite and Parham (1990) and Parham, White, and Ajamu (1999) is that Blackpsychology as a discipline should emerge out of the authentic experiences ofBlacks in America. On the surface, White’s contention seems absolutely logical.However, I believe that this premise requires closer scrutiny. For years, Blackpsychologists in the discipline of Black psychology have concerned themselveswith trying to combat negativistic assumptions made about Black people byWhite society in general and traditional psychology in particular. In doing so,many of the writings have been reactionary in nature in their attempts to com-bat the racist and stereotypic assumptions perpetuated by the Euro-Americanculture. In that regard, Black psychology has served a vital purpose in theevolution of thought about the psychology of African-American people. In theirattempt to negate the White middle-class norm and to assert the necessity foranalyzing African-American behavior in the context of its own norms, Blackpsychologists have been attempting to establish this normative base that isuniquely Afrocentric. In developing that norm, however, new questions arenow being raised about whether or not the behavior of Black people in

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Reactionary

Narrow Conception of BlackBehaviors, Thoughts,

LifestylesWeakness DominatedInferiority Oriented

Conclusions about BlackPeople

Emerges from an African Frame ofReference; Does not validate in

Comparison to White NormativeStandards

AfricanCentered

AfricanAmerican

Euro-AmericanGhetto-centric

Need for a Worldview That Emerges from anAfrican-Centered Frame of Reference

Problem:• Normative Standard• Generalizability of Norm• Difference Equals Deficiency

22 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

America constitutes a reasonable normative standard of what appropriateand/or inappropriate behavior should be. In fact, if one examines the researchrelated to Blacks, the normative standard that developed emerged for the mostpart from the analysis of behaviors and attitudes of Southern-born, working-class, ghetto-dwelling Black people (Akbar, 1981). Although this norm was cer-tainly more valid than the Eurocentric perspective, it introduced biases againstlarge numbers of Blacks who did not fit the newly developed stereotype ofwhat a “real” Black person should be. Figure 2.1 attempts to illustrate howghetto-centric norms are indeed based on a relatively small sample of Blackpeople, and are influenced by a Eurocentric perspective of what Black norma-tive behavior should be.

One can readily see the problem in adapting this ghetto-centric norm toall Black people in the criticism being shown at “The Cosby Show” in televi-sion during the late 1980s and early 90s, and to some extent, shows like “MyWife and Kids,” which stared Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell in the 2000-2005. Much of the negative press about “The Cosby Show,” and more recently“My Wife and Kids,” that has emerged from the Black community has to dowith the assumption that the characters and/or the shows themselves are not“Black enough.” Many assume (inappropriately so) that you cannot be Black,middle-class, have two professional parents working, and have a loving fam-ily that displays caring concern, strength, and character, all in a singleepisode. Fast forward twenty years from those 1980s, and with the explosionof cable news shows, you now have networks like CNN developing and air-ing shows like “Black in America I & II” in spring and summer 2009. These

FIGURE 2.1

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 23

documentary-oriented stories help to chronicle both the challenges that con-front African-descent people, as well as the successes that result from stablefamilies, hard work, and perseverance through adversity. However, even de-spite the premier and re-run episodes of these shows on national and interna-tional television, the biases this country and the world continue to harbor to-ward people of African descent are quite remarkable, even as they seek tocreate and sustain a “Black Norm” of what the typical African American is like.

Not surprisingly, many Black psychologists continue to recognize, whatothers have decades before, which is the difficulty that these historic and con-temporary shortsighted perspectives have created for Black people. Akbar(1981, 2004) has suggested that this “Black norm” has two major limitations.First, it validates itself in comparison to a White norm. Thus, even as we writethis fourth edition in 2009-10, African Americans continue to be compared withtheir White counterparts on statistical profiles ranging from educational achieve-ment, economic viability, health status, crime and justice, employment status,and relationship/family stability, and mental health, to name a few. Second, thenorm assumes that the adaptation to the conditions of America by Blacks con-stitutes a reasonable normative statement about African-American behavior.Akbar (1981, 2004) had the unique vision to recognize that oppression, discrim-ination, and racism are unnatural human phenomena; as such, these conditionsstimulate unnatural human behavior. Thus, many of the behaviors displayed byBlacks as they attempt to adjust and react to hostile conditions in America maybe functional but often prove self-destructive. For example, one who perceiveshis or her employment options as limited or nonexistent (because of discrimina-tion) may turn to a life of crime in order to provide himself or herself with whatare perceived as basic necessities. Such an individual might be seen sellingdrugs for profit, burglarizing a local establishment, engaging in prostitution orpimping, or other illegitimate endeavors. The problem with the ghetto-centricnorm is that it legitimizes such behavior.

Because of these questions, many psychologists are now suggesting thatstatements about normative behavior should emerge from the values, norms,customs, and philosophies that are African-centered. Truly, this debate aboutwhat constitutes normative Black behavior is likely to rage on within the disci-pline of Black psychology for many years. Readers may ask, however, “What isthis African-centered perspective or norm, and how does it manifest itself in theBlack community?” In the first edition of The Psychology of Blacks, White (1984)offers an excellent synthesis of the African-centered value system; and not sur-prisingly, that synthesis continues to be one of the best analyses even aftermore than twenty-five years.

THE AFRICAN WORLDVIEW

White (1984) views the holistic, humanistic ethos described by Nobles (1972)and Mbiti (1970) as the principle feature of African psychology. There appears tobe a definite correspondence between the African ethos and the Afro-Americanworldview in terms of the focus on emotional vitality, interdependence, collective

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

24 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

survival, the oral tradition, perception of time, harmonious blending, and therole of the elders. Some have questioned the utility of an African normativebase, given the enormous tribal and geographical variability among Africanpeople. However, to discount the presence of an African norm because of dif-ferences is analogous to missing the forest for the trees. Certainly, these are in-dividual differences, but there are more commonalities than differences, and itis those common themes that provide the foundation for the African worldview.

The African worldview begins with a holistic conception of the humancondition. There is no mind-body or affective-cognitive dualism. The human or-ganism is conceived as a totality made up of a series of interlocking systems.This total person is simultaneously a feeling, experiencing, sensualizing, sens-ing, and knowing human being living in a dynamic, vitalistic world whereeverything is interrelated and endowed with the supreme force of life. There isa sense of aliveness, intensity, and animation in the music, dance, song, lan-guage, and lifestyles of Africans. Emotions are not labeled as bad; therefore,there is no need to repress feelings of compassion, love, joy, or sensuality.

The basic human unit is the tribe, not the individual. The tribe operatesunder a set of rules geared toward collective survival. Cooperation is thereforevalued above competition and individualism. The concept of alienation is non-existent in African philosophy since the people are closely interconnected witheach other in a way of life that involves concern and responsibility toward oth-ers. In a framework that values collective survival, where people are psycholog-ically interdependent on each other, active aggression against another person isin reality an act of aggression against oneself (Nobles, 1972). The idea of interre-latedness extends to the whole universe, arranged in a hierarchy that includesGod, humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects in a descending order.

People are linked in a geographical and temporal frame by the oral tradi-tion, with messages being transmitted across time and space by word of mouthor the drums. Each tribe contains a griot, an oral historian, who is a livingrecord of the people’s heritage. The spoken word is revered. Words take on aquality of life when they are uttered by the speaker. In the act of Nommo, thespeaker literally breathes life into a word. Nothing exists, including newbornbabies, until a name has been uttered with the breath of life. When words arespoken, the listener is expected to acknowledge receiving the message by re-sponding to the speaker. This is known as the call-response. The speaker sendsout a message or a call, and the listener makes a response indicating that he orshe has heard the message. The speaker and the listener operate within ashared psycholinguistic space affirming each other’s presence.

Time is marked off by a series of events that have been shared with oth-ers in the past or are occurring in the present. Thus, when an African talksabout time in the past tense, reference points are likely to be established byevents such as a daughter’s marriage or a son’s birth, events that were sharedwith others. When an African is trying to make arrangements about meetingsomeone in the immediate future, a specific time, such as three o’clock, isavoided. The person is more likely to say, “I will meet you after I finish milkingthe cows.” The primary time frames in African languages are past and present.

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 25

There is no word in most African languages for the distant future. The distantfuture has not yet happened; therefore, it does not exist. In this fluid perceptionof time, there is no guilt about wasting time. Time is not a monetary commod-ity but an experience to be shared with others.

Time is also considered to be repetitive. The major events used to desig-nate points in time, such as conception, birth, the naming ceremony, puberty,and marriage, repeat themselves throughout the life cycle. There is a cyclical,rhythmic pattern to the flow of events—the coming and going of the seasons,the rising and the setting of the sun, and the movement through the stages oflife. Nature’s rhythms are believed to have been put in order by God, whoknew what He/She was doing. The essence of life is to be able to move harmo-niously with the cyclical rhythms of the universe’s internal clock. The goal is notto control or dominate the universe, but to blend creatively into the tempo andpace of the seasons of life. Life is broken down into a series of stages beginningwith conception, followed by birth, the naming ceremony, puberty, initiationrites, marriage, adulthood, and old age. Death is seen as a stage of life. The liv-ing dead are still members of the tribe, and personal immortality is assured aslong as one’s memory is continuously passed down to each generation by thetribe’s oral historian. Since immortality is guaranteed by the passing of one’smemory forward, there is no pervasive fear of old age and death. The tribal eld-ers are valued because they have accumulated the wisdoms of life’s teachings.In the hierarchical arrangement of the cosmos, they occupy a position justbelow that of the Supreme Being and the living dead.

PERSISTENCE OF THE AFRICAN-CENTERED WORLDVIEW

In order to better grasp the worldview that emerges from an African reality, it isfirst necessary to understand, and in some cases re-examine, the notion of culture.Culture has been inappropriately equated with a number of superficial variableslike food, music, clothing, and artifacts. Although each of these items is a represen-tation or a manifestation of culture, they are not culture in and of themselves.

Culture is a complex constellation of mores, values, customs, tradition, andpractices that guide and influence a people’s cognitive, affective, and behavioralresponse to life circumstances. In essence, culture provides a general design forliving and a pattern for interpreting reality (Nobles, 1986). Thus, in seeking toclarify and understand the African-centered worldview, the relevant question be-comes: How do African Americans construct their design for living, and whatpatterns do they use to interpret reality? Take for example, a July 2009 incidentin Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard Professor and African-American in-tellectual Henry Louis Gates is arrested by that city’s police at his home for “dis-turbing the peace and disorderly conduct.” The incident made national headlinesand was the subject of intense debate on all major networks for weeks, withopinions being shared on both sides about the significance of race in this cir-cumstance. However, there is more at play here than the fact that ProfessorGates is African American and the police officer(s) was White. What is clear isthat in that situation each participant’s mindset, and ultimate response that never

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

26 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

de-escalated until Gates was booked at the local jail, was influenced by his orher design for living and pattern for interpreting reality. Contextually, Gates is re-turning from a trip abroad and is just arriving home with his driver and bags intoe. Because he experiences some difficulty in opening the door to his house, hemotions to his driver to provide him with some assistance. Now, you have twoBlack males, on a porch in a predominantly White suburb of Boston, attemptingto gain entry into a house. A vigilant neighbor observes the two men, and callspolice, assuming that Gates and his driver are attempting to break in and gainillegal entry. That’s when the police respond. Before they arrive, Gates hasentered his home and is putting things down. Once the police have arrived, heis asked to show identification to verify his local address, but perceives that hisinterrogation is moving way beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable,particularly having just produced the identification the police demanded. Gatesreportedly demands to know the name and badge number of the officer incharge, and emotions escalate, tempers flare, and ultimately, Professor Gates isarrested for what can only be imagined as being belligerent to the police.

Professor Gates’ worldview is sensitive to issues of race and the hostileand discriminatory practices police routinely use toward African-Americanmales. Thus, his emotional tone is born out of that experience. The policeofficer is sensitive to the potential for a burglar to be at the Gates residence, andwhether influenced by race or not, is not about to tolerate any hostile feelingscoming from a citizen who was just a suspect in an alleged break-in. His emo-tional tone and response is born out of that experience as a law enforcementofficial who responds to a citizen call for police intervention for what is per-ceived as a crime. Thus, irrespective of who the public thought was right orwrong in this affair, what is abundantly clear is that neither man was able tolook past race to see the cultural perspective of the other, a perspective thatmight have allowed the situation to resolve itself in a more peaceful manner.But let us continue articulating the notion of culture.

One of the clearest expressions of an African-American cultural manifesta-tion in psychology was provided by White (1984) in the first edition of ThePsychology of Blacks. White believed that the African ethos helped to create acollective psychological space for African Americans independent of their op-pressors where they could generate a sense of worth, dignity, affiliation, andmutual support. Included in the delineation of that ethos, despite the historicalcontext of slavery and oppression, were principles and practices such as self-determination and definition; the intergenerational continuity enhanced by andthrough the oral tradition; a strong religious faith, including participation in or-ganized worship; immediate and extended family supports; language and ex-pressive patterns; and personal expressions through music and the arts.

African-Centered Psychology Comes of Age

In further delineating the persistence of the African ethos into the life space ofAfrican Americans, Parham (1993, 2002) has synthesized the work of Nobles(1972), White (1984), Myers (1988), and others through his comparisons of

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 27

cultural worldviews. Thus, let’s review these again to ensure that you have afirm grasp of the differences in worldviews between certain cultural groups. Incontrasting the African-American and European-American worldview acrossselected primary dimensions, Parham suggests that the “designs for living” beseen in the adherence to particular value systems by each cultural group. He firstidentifies eight variables that are then used to compare and contrast the twoculturally different worldviews. The dimensions are listed as self, feelings, sur-vival, language, time, universe, death, and worth. On one end of the spectrumis a Euro-American worldview; on the opposite end, the African American.

Regarding the sense of self, Euro-Americans relate to a fragmented per-sonality in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions are seen asseparate and distinct. Regardless to whether the psychological theories are clas-sical (i.e., Freud’s three structures of personality) or contemporary (i.e., Burne’stransactional analysis), their analysis and application include an imposition of a“difference equals deficiency” logic to particular segments of the personalitystructure. The African-American self begins with a holistic integration of its partsrather than fragmentation. At the core of the African self is an understanding ofthe fundamental nature of the self as spiritual, which permeates the cognitive,affective, and behavioral dimensions.

Regarding feelings, the Euro-American tradition values suppression ofemotions in favor of rational imperatives. In the African-American tradition,emotions and feelings are intended to be expressed while serving as a check onexpressions that are more rationally based.

The survival dimension in the Euro-American context embraces an individu-alistic and competitive relationship to people and the society at large. In contrast,the African worldview promotes a more collective orientation to people, family,and social interactions. This value of collective survival is reflected in the Asanteproverb: “I am because we are; and because we are, therefore I am.” In essence,this truth explains that an individual is only important to the degree that he or shecontributes to the maintenance and the well-being of the tribe or the group.

Regarding language, the Euro-American culture gives credence to thatwhich is written, that communicating with a style that appears to be formal anddetached. In the African tradition, much more credence is given to the oral tradi-tion with an emphasis on the interconnectedness between the speaker and thelistener. With respect to time and space, Euro-Americans tend to be very future-oriented and perceive time as a commodity to be invested (i.e., “time is money”).African Americans are more present-centered with a reference to the past. Timeis also seen as something to be experienced in the moment, rather than investedwith special emphasis or meaning given to circumstances surrounding an event.

In relationship to the universe, Euro-Americans relate it with a desire andneed for control and manipulation of things and people. In the African-American worldview, the orientation is usually toward harmony and balance, aseverything is seen as interrelated.

Regarding the concept of death, Euro-Americans see death of the body asthe end. Therefore, there is an urgent, almost obsessive, desire to preserve lifeand avoid the realities of getting old. In the African-American worldview, death

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

28 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

is seen as another transition from this life into the next. And because of the be-lief of spirit as the essence of the human being, one is able to better accept andembrace the spiritual transition of those who have joined the community of an-cestors. Finally, worth in the Euro-American tradition is determined and measuredby material attainment and possession. In the African tradition, one’s worth wasmeasured by contribution to community and collective uplifting. Parham’sanalysis, while allowing for individual variations, nonetheless recognizes howthe African-American design for living and pattern for interpreting reality arereflected in the culture of the people.

With the persistence of the African ethos in the historical and contempo-rary life space of African Americans, more recent scholars have utilized its prin-ciples as the foundation for this African-centered psychological perspective.Regardless of whether the topic or analysis is African-American families in ther-apy (Boyd-Franklin, 1989), African-American male-female relationships(Powell-Hopson & Hopson, 1998), identity development (Cross, 1991), per-sonal biographies (Gates, 1994), or the experiences of being a Black man inAmerica (McCall, 1994; Obama, 2004), these themes discussed above continueto resonate with clarity and consistency.

What we are arguing here is the recognition that the notion of culture is cen-tral to a more deep-structured analysis of African psychology that seeks to movebeyond the basic level understandings of the discipline. In helping us to embracethis idea more thoroughly, Ani (1994) has provided us with an analysis of cultureat the deep structural level. Her work suggests that culture (1) unifies and ordersour experience by providing a worldview that orients our experience and interpre-tation of reality; (2) provides collective group identification built on shared history,symbols, and meanings; and (3) institutionalizes and validates group beliefs, val-ues, behaviors, and attitudes (Ani, 1994). In a similar way, Nobles (1986) helps toinform our thinking about the concept of culture by suggesting that it representsthe inner essence and outer envelope of human beingness.

As we seek to engage these constructs of culture, Grills (2002), Parham(2002, 2006), and King, Dixon, and Nobles (1976) before them, provide us witha more formalized structure through which to examine how culture is opera-tionalized across various racial/ethnic groups. Individually and collectively, theysuggest that there are five domains of information that represent elements ofculture at the deep structure level, and that these domains are central to devel-oping a better working knowledge of the construct. The five domains include:Ontology (nature of reality), Axiology (one’s value orientation), Cosmology (re-lationship to the Divine force in the universe), Epistemology (systems of knowl-edge and discovering truth), and Praxis (consistency in the context of one sys-tem of human interaction).

Ontology Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Praxis

Nature of Value System Relationship to System of Systems ofReality the Divine Knowing and Human

What is Truth Interaction

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 29

ONTOLOGY An integration of personal and familial lived experiences; reli-gious/spiritual insight and history.

AXIOLOGY Collectivistic; one’s worth is based on one’s contribution to thegroup’s well-being and advancement; present and past oriented; group/culturalsurvival and ownership.

COSMOLOGY Spiritual/religious connection as integration of family and cul-ture; divinity falls on a spectrum of ancestral hierarchy that dictates a reverencefor those that have preceded us; connection, conservation, and protection tomother earth.

EPISTEMOLOGY Oral history (i.e., ancestral history), direct lived experiences;Western science is limited and not the universal truth of insight and understanding.

PRAXIS Connectedness to others and congruence with others; religious/spiri-tual guidance and standard for one’s thoughts and behaviors; family guidanceand shared wisdom; shared lived experiences influence the integration and ac-ceptance into one’s behavioral repertoire.

Examination of these five domains within the context of African-Americanpeople’s lives allows us to develop a template that is useful in distinguishingareas of convergence and divergence between persons of African descentand other cultural groups, and even Eurocentric psychology Parham (1993)has invited us to consider before. Table 2.2 illustrates our comparison of cul-tural manifestations.

As a consequence of this discussion, it opens the way for us to explorethe extension of these cultural elements into a set of assumptions that guidethe work of African-centered psychologists in theory and practice. Thus,

TABLE 2.2 Value Systems

Euro American Dimensions African-American

1. FragmentedDichotomizedDualistic

SELF Holistic Spiritness made evident

2. Suppressed/Controlled

FEELINGS Legitimate/Expressed/Vitality/Aliveness

3. Individual/Competitive

SURVIVAL Collective/Group “I am because we are, andbecause we are, therefore I am.”

4. Written/Detached LANGUAGE Oral/Expressive/Call Response5. Metric/Linear TIME Events Cyclical6. Control UNIVERSE Harmony-Ontological Principal of Immortality7. End DEATH8. Material Possession WORTH Contribution to One’s Community

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

30 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

African-centered psychology, in using African values, traditions, worldview asthe lens through which perceptions of reality are shaped and colored, exam-ines processes that allow for the illumination and liberation of the spirit (one’sspiritual essence). Thus, if culture does provide a general design for living anda pattern for interpreting reality, then African-centered psychology, in relyingon the principles of harmony within the universe as a natural order of humanexistence, recognizes:

• The spiritness that permeates everything that exists in the universe.• The notion that everything in the universe is interconnected.• The value that the collective is the most salient element of existence.• And the idea that self-knowledge is the key to mental health.

African psychology then is the dynamic manifestation of the unifying Africanprinciples, values, and traditions whereby the application of knowledge is used toresolve personal and social problems and promote optimal human functioning.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY—THE MODERN ERA

In the opinion of the senior co-author of this text, the modern era of Black psy-chology begins in 1968 with the formation of the ABPsi. Graduate schools inpsychology were still turning out a combined national total of only three or fourBlack Ph.Ds in psychology per year.

Some major departments of psychology at this late date had not produceda single Black Ph.D psychologist. The grand total of psychologists among themore than ten thousand members of the APA, Psychology’s most prestigious or-ganization, was less than one percent. At the annual convention of the APA inSan Francisco in August/September of 1968, approximately fifty-eight Blackpsychologist delegates and their guests came together to give form and sub-stance to the idea of a national organization of Black psychologists.

In the more than forty years since its formal beginning in 1968, the modernera of Black or African psychology has established its presence across severalareas of psychology. The impact of the efforts of African-centered psychologistshas been felt in the fields of counseling and clinical psychology, community men-tal health, education, intelligence and ability testing, professional training, foren-sic psychology, and criminal justice. Black psychologists have presented theirfindings at professional conferences, legislative hearings, and social policymakingtask forces. They have also served as expert witnesses in class action suits de-signed to make institutional policies more responsive to the needs of African peo-ple. In light of the social phenomena and institutional policies that continue to af-fect the mental health needs of the African- American community, we believe thatABPsi is a vital and necessary resource and will remain so in the future.

In order to better appreciate the ways in which ABPsi responds to morecontemporary mental health needs of the African-American community, it isimportant to understand where we have come from in the forty years sinceABPsi’s inception. It was the Algerian psychiatrist Frantz Fanon (1967) who

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 31

remarked that each generation, out of relative obscurity, must reach out and ei-ther fulfill its legacy or betray it. Those sentiments speak volumes about thechallenge to carve out a place for an African-centered worldview within thediscipline of psychology that the ABPsi has taken up. It is important to under-stand that, in Parham’s view, the foundation for the ABPsi, indeed the disci-pline of African psychology, was more than just a group of frustrated men andwomen who were unhappy with the APA’s posture regarding persons ofAfrican descent. Clearly, there were angry sentiments about what many per-ceive as the incongruence between what APA professed and what the organi-zation and its affiliates practiced. But that doesn’t come close to telling the en-tire story. The context for this initiation of the ABPsi was born out of a socialstruggle for civil rights, where the themes of “I am somebody,” “Black Power,”and “self-determination” became the rally cries for most Black Americans atthat time. Within that struggle was a challenge confronting Black psychologistsabout whether an “integrationist” (work within the APA to achieve progress)vs. a “nationalist” (break away from the APA and form an independent organi-zation) philosophy was the best strategy to achieve social and professionalprogress for Black psychologists. In addition, the bias against persons of African-descent promoted by many prominent White members of the APA demon-strated clear prejudices in intelligence and personality measurement, andhelped to usher in a practice where testing and assessment practices were usedas tools of oppression. Clearly, the betrayal of objectivity of APA’s pseudo-scientifictheories and instruments was very pronounced. Consequently, we argue thatthe struggle for an African-centered psychological prospective was less about apersonality clash between African-American and White members of an associ-ation; it was essentially about a what Thomas Parham (2009) has termed a “cul-tural war,”

In reminding ourselves that culture is a complex constellation of mores,values, customs, and traditions that provide a general design for living and apattern for interpreting reality, it is important to understand the context inwhich that war was waged. Given that the cultural sterility within traditionalpsychology was quite pronounced, it was incumbent upon professionals andstudents alike to engage in a battle that was waged on four fronts. These frontsinclude: a war of ideology, a war of values, a war of self-determination, and awar of cultural relevance. This, we believe, is what the Association of BlackPsychologists has been about for the past four decades.

WAR OF IDEOLOGY The ideological conflict centered on who and whatAfrican people are. Black psychologists were right to argue, as Hilliard(1997) reminds us, that there is something wrong with a psychology and apsychological prospective that leaves any group of people strangers to them-selves, aliens to their culture, oblivious to their condition, and inhuman to theiroppressors. Furthermore, Carter G. Woodson, in his groundbreaking work onThe Mis-Education of the Negro, reminds us that if you allow people to controlthe way you think, you do not have to assign them to an inferior status; if nec-essary, they will seek it for themselves. Indeed, it has been a war of ideology.

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

32 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

WAR OF VALUES Consistent with the descriptions referenced previously in thischapter, there is a different set of cultural values that are embraced in anAfrican-centered worldview. These have become the foundation of the Africanand African-American psychological prospective. These values include the ne-cessity and importance of spirituality, the inner connectedness of all things thatexist on the planet and in the universe, that the collective is the most salient el-ement of existence, the idea that self knowledge is the key to mental health, abelief in the transformative possibilities of the human spirit, and the need forself knowledge that was rooted in one’s own cultural traditions.

WAR OF SELF-DETERMINATION The ABPsi had to struggle with the idea ofwhether to be part of the APA or totally separate from it. In this regard, we arereminded of the words of the Honorable Marcus Garvey, who challenges usto remember that chance has never satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Itis only through hard work, persistence, and self-reliance by which the op-pressed have ever realized the light of their own freedom. In that regard, theABPsi up until most recently has been the only autonomous ethnic psychol-ogy association in this country. The conflict over self-determination was aquick battle as the ABPsi decided to establish its own headquarters(Washington D.C.); create its own newsletter (Psych Discourse); develop itsown scholarly journal (Journal of Black Psychology); and host its own conven-tion, which meets annually each August in cities all across this country, andoccasionally, internationally.

WAR OF CULTURAL RELEVANCE The ABPsi, and indeed the discipline ofAfrican psychology, has always believed that psychology had to be relevant toa broad array of persons of African descent. Said another way, psychology hadto be relevant to the people. African psychology had to be relevant in improv-ing the lives of people it devised theories to describe, and treatment modalitiesto administer. In addition, it had to be able to shape a future that not only trans-formed lives, but also instilled hope and possibility for a brighter future. Indeed,if Fanon was right that each generation has an opportunity to fulfill its legacy orbetray it, the ABPsi over the past forty-plus years has reached out and seizedthat opportunity to fulfill their legacy.

In summary, African-centered psychology, and the psychology ofBlackness, is an attempt to build conceptual models that organize, explain, andfacilitate understanding of the psychosocial behavior of African Americans.Without question, these models are based in the primary dimensions of anAfrican-American/African worldview. Having now been exposed to the basictenets of African psychology, one should be able to see specific areas of em-phasis, which although rooted in an African-centered worldview, provide con-gruence and continuity with the principles on which the discipline was foundedin 1968. The discipline of African-centered psychology continues to define theconstruct in meaningful ways, render African psychological principles relevant

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 33

to the contemporary needs of the African-American community, achieve betterintegration of the concept of spirituality, and help to define and in some casesredefine the task of therapists and healers. In addition, the discipline continuesto promote the need for social advocacy and to plan interventions in the largersocial arenas where public policy impacts on the mental health of people in theAfrican-American community.

For those interested in the organization, we can report that the ABPsi hasgrown from a handful of concerned professionals into an independent, au-tonomous organization of more than 1000 members, who see their collectivemission and destiny as the liberation of the African Mind, empowerment of theAfrican Character, and illumination of the African Spirit. ABPsi has been guidedfor the last forty years by a member-elected board of directors, regional repre-sentatives, and national staff. The chronology of ABPsi presidents are as fol-lows, with those who have transitioned to be with the Ancestors denoted withan asterisk*:

CHRONOLOGY OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGISTS

Charles W. Thomas, Ph.D. (1968–1969),* Robert Green, Ph. D. (1968–1969)

Henry Tomes, Ph. D. (1969–1970), Robert L. Williams, Ph.D. (1969–1970)

Stanley Crockett, Ph.D. (1970–1971), Reginald L. Jones, Ph.D. (1971–1972)*

James S. Jackson Ph.D. (1972–1973), Thomas O. Hilliard, Ph.D. (1973–1974)*

George D. Jackson, Ph.D. (1974–1975), William Hayes, Ph.D. (1975–1976)

Ruth E.G. King, Ed.D (1976–1977), Maisha Bennett, Ph.D. (1978–1979)

Joseph Awkard, Ph. D. (1979–1980), Daniel Williams, Ph.D. (1980–1981)

David Terrell, Ph.D. (1981–1982), Joseph A. Baldwin, Ph.D. (1982–1983)

William K. Lyles, Ph.D. (1983–1984),* W. Monty Whitney, Ph.D. (1984–1985)

Melvin Rogers, Ph. D. (1985–1986), Halford H. Fairchild, Ph.D. (1986–1987)

Na’im Akbar, Ph.D. (1987–1988), Dennis E. Chestnut, Ph.D. (1988–1989)

Suzanne Randolph, Ph. D. (1989–1990), Linda James Myers, Ph.D. (1990–1991)

Timothy R. Moragne, Psy.D. (1991–1992), Maisha Hamilton Bennett, Ph.D.(1992–1993)

Anna M. Jackson, Ph.D. (1993–1994), Wade Nobles, Ph.D. (1994–1995)

Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D. (1995–1996), Frederick B. Phillips, Psy.D. (1996–1997)

Kamau Dana Dennard, Ph.D. (1997–1998), Afi Samella B. Abdullah, Ph.D.(1998–1999)

Mawiya Kambon, Ph.D. (1999–2000), Anthony Young, Ph.D.(2000–2001)

Mary Hargrow, Ph.D. (2001–2002), Harvette Gray, Ph.D.(2002–2003)

Willie Williams, Ph.D. (2003–2004, James Savage, Ph.D. (2004–2005)

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

34 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

Robert Atwell, Ph.D. (2005–2007), Dorothy Holmes, Ph.D. (2007–2009)

Benson Cooke (2009–2011), and Cheryl Tawede Grills (2011–13)

Each administration has also committed itself to nurturing ABPsi, an organiza-tion whose mission is to advance the discipline as a whole. Thus, although thenecessity for the development of an African-centered psychology goes almostwithout question, the recognition that general psychology had failed and con-tinues to fail to provide African Americans full and accurate understanding of anAfrican reality and that applications of Eurocentric norms result in the dehu-manization of African people, were and are major forces that stimulate thegrowth of the contemporary African psychology movement.

EBSCOhost – printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use