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Education

During childhood, Sumner attended elementary schools in Virginia and New Jersey. He was not able to attend high school due to the lack of opportunity for African American youths to further their eduction in the early 20th Century. Although the United States was the first nation to open secondary education to the general public in the early 1800's,in the late 19th Century-early 20th Century, many high schools did not admit females and minorities; thus Sumner did not receive a formal post primary education. Still desiring to further his education, Sumner became a voracious reader and was home schooled by his father who was himself self taught.His home education consisted of intense reading and writing assignments.

Reference: Mintz, S.L (2012). History of Secondary Education-Current Trends, International Issues-History of. StateUniversity.com: http://education.sateuniversity.com/pages/2411/Secondary-Education.html

Everything CAPITALIZED in the paragraph, I changed or added. 

In 1911, at the age of fifteen, Sumner was accepted into Lincoln University after completing an entrance exam, since he did not have a high school diploma. Sumner and his parents worked very hard to pay for his fees and tuition. At the age of twenty in 1915, Sumner graduated magna cum laude with honors in English, modern languages, Greek, Latin and philosophy.[3] Sumner later attended Clark University, where he developed a mentor-mentee relationship with the president of Clark, G. Stanley Hall. Hall is credited with being the founder of child psychology educational psychology,AS WELL AS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE American Psychological Association. [4] SUMNER ALSO DEVELOPED A RELATIONSHIP WITH JAMES P. PORTER, THE DEAN OF Clark University AND A PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY. While his earlier views may have been considered racist, Hall’s actions in later life contradicted this, seeing as he was an impetus in getting Black students enrolled in Clark University. Hall and Sumner’s relationship became one of mutual respect as Hall continued to provide encouragement to Sumner and many other Black students. Sumner graduated from Clark University in 1916 with a B.A degree in English.[5]

Reference: Charles L.Abramson,R.B.(2005).Brief Biographies.Retrieved September15,2012,from African-­‐American Pioneers in Psychology: http://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/afroam/bio.html

Historical Context(I added ALL of this section

• • I added more references to this material as i edited the article on the actual F.C.S page.

The social and historical context surrounding Sumner’s life and work undoubtedly had an immense and critical influence on his choice to shift from his beloved study of English and various languages, to focusing his energies within the realm of social psychology. Growing up in the early 20th Century, racial segregation and discrimination was an institutionalized reality that permeated American culture and affected the lives of minority groups in various demoralizing ways. As an African American, Sumner faced significant hindrances to his advancement as a psychologist. Regarding race relations, the early 20th Century was a time of exploration and research into the elucidation of race based mythology regarding the innate inferiority of non-European peoples. From the mid -19th century, the events led by Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, Wilhelm Wundt, and Gregor Mendel, combined with earlier anthropomorphic research brought about a tremendous interest in measuring human attributes through experimental research in psychology. The popular notion of darker-race inferiority frequently provided grounds for comparing psychological and physical attributes among human beings. The earliest recorded attempt by American researchers to measure psychological capacities in different races was made in 1881, just 14 years prior to Sumner’s birth. At that time, C.S. Meyers tested Japanese subjects and proved that the Asians were slower in reaction time that Europeans. Shortly afterwards in the year of Sumner’s birth (1895), utilizing a popular reaction time device, Bache tested American Indians and Blacks and concluded that “these ‘primitive peoples’ were highly developed in physiological tasks and attributes while higher human forms…tended less to quickness of response in the automatic sphere; the reflective man is the slower being.” In his youth, Sumner was fortunate enough to have parents who supported the continuing of his education and provide the necessary motivation, considering the practice at the time to not admit females and minorities to high school. Sumner’s relationship with mentor Stanley Hall led him to study psychology and in 1917, he went back to Clark University for assistance and consideration from Hall in the study of “race psychology.” His area of focus was in investigating racism and bias in the theories used to conclude the inferiority of African Americans which were varied and numerous amongst leading researchers and even popular interpretations of the origins of racial diversity as derived from religious doctrines . Another area of interest to Sumner was the access to and attainment of higher education by African Americans. Having experienced roadblocks in his own pursuit of education, this was an area of intense concern for Sumner. As an African American, Sumner had a tremendous impact on his work and on the field of psychology as exemplified in his designation as “the father of Black psychology.” The first perspective of Afro-centric psychology is the term used to describe the efforts of Black scholars to reverse assumptions of inferiority of African Americans. Over time it grew to also incorporate the history and the experiences of African Americans, explaining it in a way that traditional viewpoints of White psychologies were not able to. His work helped to achieve an understanding and awareness as to the existence of a predominantly Eurocentric perspective on the study of psychology and the importance and relevance of studying psychology through other perspectives in regard to varied systems of belief, socio-historical, ideological, and experiential frameworks otherwise oriented from an African and African American cultural perspective. Sumner’s contributions also faced scrutiny and resistance. In his time during teaching psychology at various schools, he published several articles, but not without facing financial difficulty due to the refusal of white research agencies to provide funding for his work due to his color.