"Albert Sidney Beckham"(1897-1964)

Was a pioneering African American psychologist.Albert specialized in educational psychology and made significant contributions to the base of knowledge about the racial intelligence score disparity.Albert was a professor at Wilberforce University and Howard University and serve the Chicago school district as the first African American School psychologist.Albert was born in Camden,South Carolina to Elizabeth & Calvin Beckham.His daddy was a local merchant and businessman.From early on his parents put great emphasis on and were very supportive of his education.They sent him to Christian schools and provided him with tutors.Given the government sanctioned segregation at the time,the type,of proactive stance towards education that Albert's parents took was really the only way to get a quality education.The battle with educational segregation only worsened when John began to look toward higher education.College education in the south was almost not an option for African Americans at this time,moving north was a necessity.In 1915,he graduated from Lincoln University in Chester County,Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree,then received a second bachelor's degree from Ohio State University in 1916.He received his masters degree in Psychology in 1917 and subsequently his PhD in psychology from New York University.He eventually earned a PhD in educational psychology and began working for the Institute for Juvenile Research.It was working at the institute that he met his wife,Ruth Howard.She,too was a psychologist working at the institute.At the age of 15,Albert  enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.At Lincoln,Albert studied along side Francis Summer,graduating with a BA in Psychology in 1915.Moving quickly through academic paths that had not been traveled by many African Americans before him,Albert education was interrupted by his call to serve his country.From 1917 until 1920,he worked as a professor at Wilberforce University at the direction of U.S. armed forces.In 1921,after conducting his service,Albert enrolled at Columbia University to pursue a doctorate degree in psychology.After taking some courses at Columbia,Albert transferred to New York University because it offered better financial aid.Albert continued his studies at NYU until 1924,when he accepted a position as a professor at Howard University.In 1928 he returned to NYU and continued his doctorate work.In 1930,Albert was awarded a Ph.D in educational psychology from New York University's School of Education.Albert became a professor  of psychology,somewhat unintentionally,at the age of twenty.Albert did not seek out his first teaching job.Immediately after completing his master's degree,Albert enlisted in he Air Force with aspirations to be a Pilot in World War 1.His application came during a time of serious segregation within armed forces.The Air Force rejected Albert's application; it would be decades before an African American be came an Air Force pilot.After persistent inquiry,the Air Force told Albert that he could best serve his country by being a War Professor of Psychology at Wilberforce University.He remained at Wilberforce, a private University that served African Americans,from 1917 until 1920.From 1920 until 1924,Albert studied at Columbia University.During this time he was the editor of a newspaper called the New York dispatch,he also worked closely with New York public schools.In 1924,Albert took a position as the first psychology at Howard University.He began as an instructor but later became an assistant professor,he taught a wide variety of psychology courses at Howard.His contributions as a professor were impressive,Albert's greatest impact on the Howard psychology department was the laboratory.This laboratory was the first of its kind at an African American University.One of the first and most prominent courses study in the laboratory regarded intelligence differences in children of  ethnicities.As mainstream psychology made claims about the intellectual inferiority of African American children Albert's lab conducted research refute these studies.The laboratory was also used for individual consolations with the school districts in Washington D.C. John's work with he school districts helped to establish a relationship between Howard and the surrounding public schools.In 1928,Albert left Howard to continue his doctorate,John took at the Institute for Juvenile Research,which was devoted to researching and resolving juvenile delinquency.In the time he was at the institute,he served as a Fellow of the National Committee for Mental Health and as Senior Assistant Research Psychologist.The organization provided delinquent children with psychologist,psychiatrists,and social workers.It was also used to administer tests,provide training for teachers,and evaluate other clinics.Due to pay cuts that were the result of the Great Depression,Albert left his job at the institute in 1935.The job search proved difficult.John applied to work for the Chicago Board of education,there were not many jobs at the time.Being African American made finding work difficult.John was the first choice for the board of education,he was not actually hired until the National Urban League pressured the city to hire him.The director of the board sent him to work at Dusable High School in Chicago.John became the school psychologist at Dusable,establishing one of  the first public school psychological clinics.Dusable served primarily African Americans students.At Dusable Albert did unprecedented work involving students,families,and the community.He created a clinic for parents to give them support in raising their adolescents Albert worked for the board of education until his death and conducted a great deal of research simultaneously.John and his wife,Ruth Howard,had a called the Center for Psychological Services throughout most of their marriage life.