Gloria Johnson-Powell (born Gloria Johnson, 1936 – October 11, 2017) was a child psychiatrist who was also an important figure in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and was one of the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

women to attain tenure at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

Background and career

She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and attended

Boston Latin Academy Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education. Originally named Girls' Latin School until 1977, the school was the ...

. She received her B.A. in economics and sociology from Mount Holyoke College in 1958 and her M.D. in 1962 from

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Medical school in the United States, medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Te ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. She completed her residency at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and was on the faculty there for fifteen years before joining the Harvard Medical School (where she was on the faculty for ten years). She was the

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

associate dean for cultural diversity and a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics.

Civil Rights Movement

In his 1999 book, ''The Children'',

David Halberstam David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and late ...

includes her as one of the key figures in the Civil Rights Movement.

Scholarship

Her text, ''Black Monday's Children'', discusses the effect of

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

on southern black children and she has continued working with minority children. Johnson-Powell has also published a book about the impact of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

on children. In addition, with her daughter, she wrote the biography of her mother.

Death

Johnson-Powell died on October 11, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. She was 81.

Works

* ''Black Monday's Children: A Study Of The Effects Of School Desegregation On The Self-Concepts Of Southern Children'' * ''The Psychosocial Development of Minority Children'' editor Brunner/Mazel New York 1983 * ''Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse'' co-editor with Gail Elizabeth Wyatt, Sage Publications 1998 Newbury Park * ''The House On Elbert Street: The Biography Of A Welfare Mother'' * ''Transcultural Child Development: Psychological Assessment and Treatment'' co-editor with Joe Yamamoto Wiley New York 1997

References

External links

Profile of Gloria Johnson Powell by Mount Holyoke College

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson-Powell, Gloria 1936 births 2017 deaths Mount Holyoke College alumni American women psychiatrists American psychiatrists David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Harvard Medical School faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty African-American women academics People from Boston Meharry Medical College alumni American women academics 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women Boston Latin Academy alumni