Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund: Graduate Students Grant

The Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund, established by the American Psychological Foundation, supports graduate students conducting research on self-identity and academic achievement in K-8 children. The fund honors the pioneering work of the Clarks, who highlighted the psychological effects of segregation. In 2024, the fund is specifically available for graduate students, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Clarks' contributions to psychology and race relations.

NOTE: See page for Early Career Psychologists here.
This grant alternates every other year between an early career psychologist and a graduate student – in 2024, this grant was available to graduate students. In 2025, it will be available to early career psychologists.
American Psychological Foundation (APF)
APF is a grant-making foundation that funds early career psychologists and graduate students using psychology to solve important problems and improve people’s lives.
Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Grant
The Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund supports research and demonstration activities that promote the understanding of the relationship between self-identity and academic achievement with an emphasis on children in grade levels K–8.
The Kenneth B. and Mamie P.
The Clarks were the first and second African-Americans to receive PhDs from Columbia University. Their famous doll experiments, in which they asked children to express their likes and dislikes about brown-and white-skinned dolls, led the Clarks to conclude that the segregation in schools and society was psychologically damaging to the children. These studies are believed to be the first social science evidence considered as hard fact by the U.S. Supreme court, in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka.

Eligibility

The grant will support a graduate student.Familiarity with the Clarks’ work is essential:Kenneth Bancroft Clark, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.Mamie Phipps Clark, Manuscripts Division, New York Public Library, New York.Markowitz, G. & Rosner, D. (1996). Children, Race and Power: Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s Northside Center. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.International applicants from countries that have diplomatic relations with the United States and who meet the other eligibility requirements may apply for APF funding.

Ineligibility

APF does not allow institutional indirect/administrative/overhead costs and/or fees to be taken out of grant monies.