Francis Cecil Sumner
(1895-1954)
Overview
Zeitgeist
Historical Antecedents
Professional Obstacles
Overview of Research Interests
Experiments/Data/Outcomes
Sumner’s Influences
Summary of Presentation
“The Spirit of the Times”

Born 1895
– 30 years after the end
of the US Civil War
– 1 year before the 1896
Plessy v Ferguson
decision
“The Spirit of the Times”
(continued)

Died – January 12th,
1954
 Five months before
landmark Brown vs.
Board of Education
decision May 17th,
1954
“The Spirit of the Times”
(continued)

From 1876-1920 only 11 blacks out of 10,000
recipients had earned PhD’s
– (and none in Psychology until 1920)
Time Line
1892 - The APA is founded by 26 (white)
men
 1920 - Francis Cecil Sumner is the first
African American awarded the PhD in
psychology (from Clark University)
 1928 – Psychology Department is
established at Howard University, chaired
by Francis Cecil Sumner

Personal History and Education
Family and Early Education
 Lincoln University (1911-1915)

Personal History and Education
Clark College (1915-1916)
 G. Stanley Hall

– Accomplishments
– Relationship to Sumner
Personal History and Education

Lincoln University (1916-1917)
 1917 received M.A. from Lincoln
Clark University (1917-1918)
 Military Service (1918-1919)
 Clark University (1919-1920)

 June 14th, 1920 Received his PhD in
Psychology
Personal History and Education

West Virginia Collegiate Institute (1921-1928)
 Offered a position teaching Psychology and
Philosophy at West Virginia Collegiate Institute
 Published several articles
 Began writing controversial articles and opinions
about race and education

Howard University (1928-1954)
 1930 - Established the psychology department and
became its chair
Obstacles: Childhood
Home-Schooled for secondary
 Raised under zeitgeist of racial tension

Obstacles: Education
Rejected from American U. and Illinois
 Bittersweet relationship with G. Stanley
Hall
 Conflicts at Clark University WWI
Obstacles: Post-Doctoral
Funding for research
 Ostracized from fellow faculty
 Unrecognized by the discourse community
at large

Research Interest

Sumner had at least 45 publications during his
career. Some were in:
– “Pure” Psychology
 “Actual Brightness and Distance of Colors when Apparent
Distance is Held Constant”
 “Affective Tone of Tactual Impressions”
– Applied Psychology
 “Measuring the Relevancy of Picture to Copy in Advertising
and the Influence of Color on the Legibility of Copy”
– Psychology of Religion
 “The Mental Hygiene of Religion”
Examples of Published Works

“Core and Context in
the Drowsy
State”(1924)

“Environic Factors
which Prohibit Creative
Scholarship among
Negreos”(1925)
Experiments

1931 at Howard University “The Mental
Health of White and Negro College
Students” Sumner,F.C., Sumner, F.H.

1950 at Howard University “The
Persistence of Vocational Preference in
Successful Individuals”. Sumner, F.C.,
Somerville,Addison

Influences

“I thoroly (sic) believe that if you
make of your study of psychology a
practical matter you can be of the
greatest service to your own
people.”
– written to Sumner by Dean James Porter, Clark University
(1917)
(as cited in Guthrie, 2004, pp. 219)
First Black American to receive a
Ph.D. in psychology (1920)

Despite blatant racism and
involvement in WWI

Opened the doors of many
Black Americans after him
Spoke up against inequalities of
Black Americans

1918: Sparked controversial debates
in his letters to the editor of the
Worcester Gazette
– Actively protested substandard
education and oppression
 Probably influenced by W.E.B. DuBois
– Americans’ views of Germans as
“barbaric, immoral” were actually
projection to minimize guilt
W.E.B. DuBois
Protested for better education
of Black students
Influenced by his own education
options
 Argued in a more “politically
correct” way in the Educational

Review
– Negro as “culturally inferior”
(Sumner, 1927)
– This may have been his only
choice, considering the Zeitgeist
(Sawyer, 2000)
Professor at Howard University
(1928)
President Johnson at Howard requested him
 Responsible for developing Department of
Psychology
 45 publications during his tenure
 By 1972, 300 Ph.D’s had been received by
African Americans in psychology - 60 of these
had been undergrads or grads in Sumner’s
department

Howard University, cont.

Kenneth Clark as his
student
– Kenneth Clark - the
“most successful and
influential African
American psychologist
of the 20th century”
(Sawyer, 2000, pp.
136)

Howard University’s
Department of
Psychology still exists
today
Peer Mentorship

A peer mentorship
program was developed in
his name at Clark
University
Helps students to
“enhance self esteem,
revitalize interest in
the community, and
leave their own
legacies as Sumner
did.” (Francis C. Sumner
Mentor Program
Homepage, n.d.)
In Summary...
A Lifetime of Equal Rights
 Sumner’s Education through Hardships
 Research Interests
 Influences …. Even Today
