Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power

KENNETH B. CLARK began his education in the Harlem public schools and was later graduated from Howard University and received his Ph. D. from Columbia University. In 1962 he returned to Harlem as an “involved observer,” serving as the chief consultant and chairman of the board of directors of the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited project (Haryou), from which Dark Ghetto arose. But according to Clark, “Dark Ghetto is a summation of my personal and lifelong experiences and observations as a prisoner within the ghetto long before I was aware that I was really a prisoner.” In 1938-41 Clark was a research associate with Ralph Bunche and Gunner Myrdal on the noted Carnegie study that led to An American Dilemma. He was president of the American Psychological Association in 1970-71 and of the Society of Psychological Studies on Social Issues in 1959-60. He is now Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus of the City University of New York. Clark is author of, among other books, Prejudice and Your Child, Pathos of Power, and King, Malcolm, Baldwin. He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON is the Lucy Flower Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He is a MacArthur Prize fellow, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of the American Sociological Association. He is the author of several books, including most recently, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy. His home is in Chicago, Illinois.