Celebrating Black History in School Psychology
Celeste Malone
In honor of Black History Month, I am sharing two essays from Voices of Color in School Psychology (VOCSP) that spotlight Black leaders in the profession. VOCSP is a project dedicated to documenting the history and experiences of school psychologists of color through oral histories and archival research.
"Critical Histories and Honoring Trailblazers of Color"
This essay describes the efforts of Nannie Curtis, Howard Cameron, and John Jackson to promote racial equity in leadership opportunities within the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the American Psychological Association (APA).
- Nannie Curtis was a school psychologist with DC Public Schools and served as NASP's DC delegate and chair of its Nominations and Elections Committee in the early to mid-1970s.
- Dr. Howard Cameron was the founding director of Howard University's school psychology program, and Dr. John Jackson served as coordinator of school psychological services for Milwaukee Public Schools. Together, they represented Division 16 (School Psychology) on APA's Council of Representatives from 1981 to 1983.
"The Future or Deja Vu All Over Again?”
Drawing parallels between the 2023-2024 School Psychology Futures Conference and the 1980 Spring Hill Symposium, this essay examines the persistent challenges of increasing racial diversity in school psychology and of addressing social justice issues. It also highlights the prescient commentary of the two Black school psychology leaders who delivered invited remarks at the Spring Hill Symposium.
- Dr. Elizabeth Abramowitz was a practitioner, a former NASP executive director, and a former White House staffer who played an instrumental role in the creation of the U.S. Department of Education.
- Dr. Trevor Sewell served as dean of Temple University's College of Education and engaged in scholarly advocacy focused primarily on the use of intellectual assessments among racially minoritized populations.
I hope these two essays offer you new insights into the history of school psychology and the contributions of Black school psychologists.
Warm regards,
Celeste
Celeste M. Malone, PhD, MS (she, her, hers)
Associate Professor of School Psychology
Faculty Advisor, HU School Psychology Association
Howard University School of Education
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Past President (2022-2023), National Association of School Psychologists
Curator of The Blue Sky Syllabus: Ideas to Move School Psychology Beyond the Clouds of Injustice and Voices of Color in School Psychology
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“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody else has already seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.” -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi