The Formation of the Association of Black Psychologists

The 2012 International Congress of Psychology held in Cape Town, South Africa was an historical event in which sessions addressing African psychology proved to be particularly popular. The Focal Symposium on the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) was no exception as colleagues from throughout the diaspora gathered to hear ABPsi leadership discuss the formation, mission, challenges, relevance, and future directions of the organization. Presented originally as a part of this symposium, this piece specifically addresses the formation of this association.

The history of ABPsi has been well documented (James-Meyers, 1991; King, 1997-1978; B. H. Williams, 1997; R. L. Williams, 2008a, 2008b). The goal then, is not to try and retell the story of the formation of ABPsi but to orient those unfamiliar and demonstrate the usefulness of this history for burgeoning and established African diasporan psychological organizations. The formation of ABPsi can be delineated into three categories. They include the revolution, deconstruction, and construction eras of the organization (R.L. Williams, 2008a).

The revolution era of ABPsi began on September 2, 1968, during the annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in San Francisco. Armed with a list of grievances, a group of over 200 Black psychologists and student activists rallied together to interrupt convention proceedings and become the first national ethnic psychological association in the United States (R. L. Williams 2008a, 2008b). They rebelled against the APA’s inability to adequately address the needs of the Black community and play a more active role in the eradication of racism. This lack of action was viewed as especially grievous as APA members were using Black communities for research purposes (B. H. Williams, 1997).

The revolution/deconstruction era of ABPsi also included a petition to APA in which the three major challenges facing Black psychologists and seven steps that APA could take to help alleviate them were addressed. The challenges included the following: (1) the lack of Black psychologists and limited number of Black persons in psychology graduate and undergraduate programs, (2) the lack of effort put forth by APA to address problems of racism and poverty, and (3) the lack of Black representation in the organizational structure of the APA. Some of the suggestions included a reevaluation of certified psychology training programs to address the social ills endemic of poverty and a moratorium on the use of standardized psychological instruments on Black youth, until their detrimentally racist effects could be fully evaluated (R. L. Williams, 2008b). While clear advancements have been made for African Americans in the field of psychology, issues such as the use of culturally incongruent psychological instruments are still of major concern throughout the Diaspora (Hall-Campbell, 2012; Sutherland, 2011).

The atmosphere of social changes incurred through the civil rights movement greatly influenced the original founders of ABPsi. It was this social milieu along with the mantra that they were “Black first and psychologists second” that prepared the way for the organization to fully emerge (B. H. Williams, 1997; R. L. Williams, 2008b). As such, a group of Black graduate psychology students interrupted the proceedings of the APA annual convention again, in 1969, this time in Washington, D.C. Supported by professional founding members of ABPsi, the students presented a five-point plan outlining the challenges that they faced in their matriculation. While some members of APA openly supported the student’s agenda, ABPsi broke ties with the APA in 1970. Establishing their own terms, African epistemology was adopted as the philosophical foundation of the organization and a professional publication in which to present their work, The Journal of Black Psychology was founded in 1974. By 1976, ABPsi had elected their first female president and in 1990 held their first international convention in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Ten years later, the third internationally held convention would take place in Accra, Ghana (R. L. Williams, 2008a).

ABPsi is the preeminent organization for the psychological concerns of people of African descent, but to achieve this, they had to rebel against the norm, deconstruct misperceptions, highlight detrimental practices, and construct healthy models where they did not exist. Many African diasporan psychological associations will be able to identify with ABPsi’s desire to “achieve their legitimacy within psychology” (B. H. Williams, 1997, p. 176). Located in countries in which people of African descent constitute the majority, these psychologists are faced with the task of determining whether they will place, not only, their racial identities above their professional ones but also their national, regional, and sometimes ethnic identities as the priority. For example, will Black psychologists in the Bahamas choose to identify as Bahamian, Caribbean, or Black first and psychologists second? Will one of these identities have to take precedence over the other or can they work in tandem? Do these choices even need to be made given the current social context?

The founding members of ABPsi were able to make a clear choice as to how they defined themselves. They placed their racial identities as paramount, due in part to continuous isolation from the mainstream professional organization and the inspiration of the momentous Black Power movement of the time (B. H. Williams, 1997). The lessons of the formation of this association demonstrate the importance of self-determination. So even as ABPsi can serve as a blueprint for African diasporan psychological organizations, the manner in which it is done must empower as oppose to dictate. This is especially important in the development of a Pan-African Psychology Union in which shared goals must be able to address the specific needs of each constituent and allow knowledge to be shared in unilateral ways. Fortunately, this special issue of The Journal of Black Psychology will provide an opportunity for such conversation.