Francis Cecil Sumner
The First African-American Psychologist
Intro
Francis Cecil Sumner (1895 - 1954), often referred to as the “Father of Black Psychology,”1,2,3 was the first African-American to earn a PhD in psychology.3,4,5 His research interests were vast, including education,6 psychoanalysis,7 attitudes towards justice,8 and more. He also made vast contributions to the teaching of psychology, especially for African-Americans. He helped revamp and improve the department of psychology at Howard University,1,3,6 which taught many notable African-American psychologists, including Kenneth and Marie Clark.3,6
Sumner’s legacy as a scientist, instructor, and pioneer makes him an essential figure in the history of psychology. His ability to persevere and succeed in spite of the institutional barriers he faced allowed him to contribute not only to the psychology of his time, but to the betterment of psychology—and society—in future generations.
Psychology appears the most vital subject in which I would specialize. Many have tried to discourage me from that subject, saying it was not much in demand among [African-Americans]. However I seem to see a great latent demand for it.9
- Francis Cecil Sumner
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Dr. Sekoul Krastev is a decision scientist and Co-Founder of The Decision Lab, one of the world's leading behavioral science consultancies. His team works with large organizations—Fortune 500 companies, governments, foundations and supernationals—to apply behavioral science and decision theory for social good. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from McGill University and is currently a visiting scholar at NYU. His work has been featured in academic journals as well as in The New York Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg. He is also the author of Intention (Wiley, 2024), a bestselling book on the science of human agency. Before founding The Decision Lab, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group and Google.
