Beverly Daniel Tatum
Beverly Daniel Tatum
(1954-Present)
Beverly Christine Daniel Tatum was born on September 27, 1954, in Tallahassee, Florida. Her parents were Catherine Faith Maxwell and Robert A. Daniel. Tatum calls herself an "integration baby", having been born only four months after the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed race-based segregation in schools. Tatum grew up in Bridgewater, Mass., where she recalls usually being the only black student in her classes.
Much of her family, including her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents attended some of the best historically black colleges, such as the Tuskegee Institute and Howard University. However, when Tatum graduated high school in 1971, she was not limited to only historically black colleges and universities.
Beverly Tatum earned a B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University. She also received her M.A. in Clinical Psychology in 1976 from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D in clinical Psychology in 1984, also from the University of Michigan. Much later in 2000, she received an M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary.
Tatum initially taught Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1980 to 1983. She then went on to be a professor of Psychology at Westfield State College (1983-1989), and later served as a professor of Psychology for thirteen years at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. While at Mount Holyoke, she was also appointed as chair of the Psychology department, Dean of the College, Vice President for Student Affairs, and acting President of the College.
In the fall of 2002, Tatum became the President of Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts women’s college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Her tenure there was marked by many successes, including a 10-year campaign that brought alumni donating up to 41% of alumni, and raised $157.8 million.
Tatum has brought her expertise in the realm of racial identity development to lectures, workshops, and panels across the country, even speaking as a panel member at the Summit on Race Relations and America’s Public Education System, a publicly broadcast conversation about race relations that was hosted by President Bill Clinton.
In addition to being a renowned educator and author, Tatum also worked as a practicing clinical psychologist from 1988 to 1998. Her area of expertise was in diversity training and multicultural organizational development, which she would carry out in individual and group sessions.
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum retired in July 2015 as President Emerita of Spelman College. She now hopes to focus on work as an author, lecturer, and expert of racial identity development.