Opening Reception at the Observatory Cottage on November 19th from 2–4 pm.
Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark, residents of Hastings-on-Hudson from 1950 until their deaths in 1983 and 2005, respectively, were important figures in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Both were accomplished psychologists, and their famous “doll tests” administered to Black children showed the negative impact of segregation on the children’s self esteem. These results were influential exhibits in the groundbreaking 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka U.S. Supreme Court decision to outlaw racially segregated public schooling across the nation.
The Clark Legacy
Listen to Hilton Clark talk about his parents’ relationship and their lifelong collaboration. Courtesy of the Northside Center for Child Development.
Dr. Kenneth Bancroft Clark
Watch a clip from a 1988 interview on WGBH, Dr. Kenneth Clark talking about the concept of self respect. See the full interview here.
Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark
Listen to how Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark responds to the question of how her field studies on children’s self-hatred influenced the Clarks’ groundbreaking research during a Columbia University interview at Northside in May 25, 1976. Listen to the full interview here.
The Doll Test
Watch a video of a more recent doll test, which was shared on Brian Williams’s MSNBC event A Conversation about Race in 2008. Read the full transcript here.
Northside Center for Child Development
A video of ABC News interviewing Dr. Thelma Dye at the Northside Center in 2022.Watch the full video here.
Kenneth Clark at CCNY
Edward Brewington, who attended CCNY in the 1960s, is interviewed by his daughter about getting a very special assignment in Dr. Clark’s class.
The Clarks & the Brown v. Board of Education
Listen to Dr. Kenneth Clark respond to the question: Was there controversy within the NAACP about including the Drs. Clarks’ psychological research in the desegregation cases? Courtesy of Eyes on the Prize.Watch the entire interview here.
Minnijean Brown and the Little Rock Nine
Listen to Minnijean Brown-Trickey recall the scene outside Central High School on her first day of school in 1957 on The Lynne Hayes-Freeland Show, KDKA-TV CBS Pittsburgh on July 15, 2018. See the full interview here.
A Tribute by The Beatles
Paul McCartney speaks about the inspiration of the hit song “Blackbird” (from the 1968 the White Album) at a 2016 concert in Little Rock, Arkansas. Read the full article here from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette by Jaime Dunaway.
The Pinecrest Neighborhood
Listen to Dr. Kenneth Clark remembering his family’s first holiday season in Hastings-on-Hudson, from a 1990 interview conducted by Hastings Historical Society board member Spike Barkin. Listen to the full interview here.
Friends and Luminaries
Watch Dr. Kenneth Clark talks to Martin Luther King, Jr. on his 1963 PBS television program, Negro and the American Promise, about King’s philosophy of nonviolence. Play the full interview here.
