Abstract
This year, 2024, the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) will celebrate the 50th anniversary of publishing the Journal of Black Psychology. Congratulations, ABPsi, for having the vision to pursue the creation and publication of a professional journal devoted to the psychological experiences of Black people across the diaspora. Reaching this milestone in the life of a journal is significant. Let me set the context to highlight its significance. First, the Association of Black Psychologists was founded in 1968 (Williams, 1974) at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. It was the first racial minority psychological association to form in the United States. The founders of ABPsi (under the guidance of Drs. Charles Thomas and Robert Green as the first presidents) took ownership of Black psychology with two primary objectives: (a) to grow the profession of Black psychology in order (b) to address the inequitable treatment of Black people. In essence, the Association rejected the deficit model of psychology imposed on Black people and pursued a positive Black psychology by highlighting Black people’s psychological strengths and creating interventions to address their inequities and mental health issues (Williams, 2008).
By extension, to own the profession means to own its scholarship. Thus, between 1969–1970, Dr. Robert L. Williams, president during this period, “asked Reginald Jones to conduct a study on the feasibility of initiating a Journal of Black Psychology” (Williams, 1974, p. 21). The findings of the feasibility study were mixed. The ABPsi members who completed the survey (80–86%) were supportive of establishing the journal and submitting manuscripts. However, less than 25% (80/300+) ABPsi members completed the survey. Thus, no clear mandate could be discerned plus there were questions of how to finance the journal and how to confine the content of the journal to Black psychology (Williams, 1974). Despite the early concerns, the first volume, first issue of the Journal of Black Psychology (JBP) was published in August 1974. William David Smith, the first director of the Department of Afro-American Studies, and professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati, became the first editor of JBP. In his first editorial, Smith (1974) wrote the following: [JBP was] designed to inform the population about the psychological world as it relates to Black people. The Journal of Black Psychology was created especially to give a psychological view of Black people, particularly from the Black perspective. (p. 5)
Smith stressed, “The Journal of Black Psychology will not be limited to a specific orientation,” but “be inclusive and publish the writings of many professionals with various orientations” (p. 5). Smith continued We must be concerned with developing a new and different ways of viewing the behavior of Afro-Americans other than the traditional psychological approaches that have been employed in the past century. The challenge before us is to ‘innovate’ and not ‘procrastinate’ if we are to ‘liberate.’ (pp. 5–6)
Dr. Smith demonstrated extraordinary prescience. I believe JBP (i.e., ABPsi, editors, reviewers, and authors) has lived up to his initial vision. The mission of the JBP remains the same: We focus on the psychological experiences (cognition, affect, and behavior) of Black populations across the African diaspora. The journal covers the span of the psychological discipline, such as counseling/clinical, Black youth, therapeutic interventions, personality, education, health, social behavior, life span, and family issues. The focus is and has always been on various Black populations around the world. As is the mission of ABPsi, JBP has a specific emphasis on African-centered psychology. The journal has focused on the psychological experiences of Blacks that mainstream or general psychology journals rarely address unless as a special issue. The articles written and published in JBP have been selected for their innovation and the goal of liberating Black psychologists as well as the Black communities.
The Journal of Black Psychology was the first racially/ethnically specific journal devoted to psychology. Based on my literature search, I found six journals that either focused on the Black experience or psychology, but not both. The Journal of National Medical Association, the official journal of the National Medical Association (focus on the medical disparities of persons of African descent), was first published in 1908, followed by the Journal of Negro History (now Journal of African American History) in 1916, followed by the Journal of Negro Education in 1932. Black psychology has been included in the Journal of Negro Education primarily as a result of intelligence, achievement and personality. Inclusive of Black psychology, The Black Scholar, first published in 1969, and the Journal of Black Studies, first published in 1970, were interdisciplinary and focused on Black issues in the social sciences. It is noteworthy that Dr. Joseph White, the father of Black psychology, published in volume 1, issue 5 (1969) of The Black Scholar titled “Guidelines for Black Psychologists.” In the same vein, the Journal of Black Studies has been inclusive of Black psychology and continues to do so. The year prior to the onset of JBP, volume 4, issue 1 in the Journal of Black Studies, was primarily devoted to Black psychology. Smith (1973a) provided a guest editorial titled “Which Way Black Psychologists,” followed by several articles on Black psychology, its directions (Smith, 1973b), the role of Black psychologists (Chimezie, 1973; Smith, 1973), and Black intelligence (Williams, 1973). The first culturally focused psychology journal was the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, also first published in 1970. Early on this journal had articles on the psychology of Blacks, but in comparison to other racial ethnic groups. None of the articles had a singular focus on Black psychology or examined intra-racial/cultural differences.
Fifty Years of the Journal of Black Psychology Based on Editor Tenure and Volume.
Thus, the significance of the Journal of Black Psychology is clear. It was the first and only psychology journal solely devoted to the Black populations around the world. Since JBP’s creation, more US ethnic/racial psychology journals have been published as well as some international journals on African psychology: Journal of Psychology in Africa (1990), Cultural Diversity in Ethnic Psychology (1995), Journal of African Psychology (2006), Asian American Journal of Psychology (2009), Journal of Indigenous Research (2011), Journal of Latinx Psychology (2013), and Caribbean Journal of Psychology (2014). Some of these journals do include articles on the Black experiences; others are focused on a specific ethnic group, region, or nationality. These journals are great additions to focusing on the unique psychological experiences of various cultural groups. The field of psychology needs to understand the universality as well as the uniqueness of the human condition.
Being Black is a unique condition that demands to be addressed, as evidenced by the perpetuation of disparities in the social determinants of living (Hill et al., 2023). As a result, the Journal of Black Psychology remains a relevant and significant professional journal for theorizing, reporting empirical studies on Blacks’ sphere of functioning across all walks of life, and introducing new psychological interventions. To celebrate and acknowledge the contribution of the Journal of Black Psychology to the field of psychology, we will be including in the six issues of 2024 articles that will focus on specific historical aspects of the journal and special topics representative of Black psychology. In this issue, Roberts (2024) used topic modeling to review the history of the Journal of Black Psychology. Volume 50, issue 1, also focuses on the coping efforts of Black college students exposed to police killings (Wilson et al., 2024), male emotional development and forced gender roles on Black American males (Dennis & Zolnikov, 2024), and Black mothers’ visions of freedom within a radical healing framework (Leath, 2024).
I end this editorial with the ending of Dr. Smith’s inaugural editorial. His words are powerful and stands today as they did almost 50 years ago: History will record that Afro-Americans stepped off the Boat in 1619. From that time until now, no journal has been published that dealt exclusively with psychology as it relates to people of color. More specifically, no journal promoted psychological research, theory, and writings that were for and about Blacks; no journal promoted the study of Black Psychology through schools, colleges, homes, and other groups or associations; no journal promoted greater psychological understanding of Black behavior through the world; and no journal tried to enhance the “psychological self' of Black people. It is anticipated and hoped that this journal-the Journal of Black Psychology-will fill this void in the decades ahead.
Beverly J. Vandiver
Editor-in-Chief