James Thomas Morton, Jr
James Thomas Morton, Jr
(1911-1974)
Born on 1911 in Greenwood, South Carolina, Morton was a pioneer for Blacks in clinical psychology and a strong advocate for equal education and employment opportunities for minority youth. He received his BA in psychology from the University of Illinois at Champaign in 1934, his MA in psychology from Northwestern University in 1935, and his PhD in clinical psychology from Northwestern in 1942.
Morton has made significant contributions in the field of black psychology. He produced an unpublished study of black psychologists, hoping to use the data to assist in the recruitment of young black scholars in psychology and compiled an immense data bank relating to the intelligence of black Americans as measured by the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Test.
In 1936, he was drafted into the army as a private and near the end of his military career he was given a direct commission as a psychologist, the only black American to receive such an appointment during World War II. In 1946, he accepted an appointment at Tuskegee Veterans’ Hospital in Ala., becoming the first black chief psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 1948, he was designated Diplomate in Clinical Psychology in the APA’s first listing of Diplomate status awards.
On a voluntary basis, as a high school student, he taught classes in Negro history to member of the Evanston community and various church groups.
He produced an unpublished study of Black psychologists, hoping to use the data to assist in the recruitment of young Black scholars in psychology.
He compiled an immense data bank relating to the intelligence of Black Americans as measured by the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Test.
He was a pioneer for Blacks in clinical psychology and a strong advocate for equal education and employment opportunities for minority youth.
Source: https://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/afroam/bio.html
http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/psychologists/morton.aspx