Joyce Hamilton Berry
Joyce Hamilton Berry | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1937 (age 86–87) |
| Alma mater | University of Kentucky |
| Occupation | clinical psychologist |
Joyce Hamilton Berry(born 1937), is an American clinical psychologist with her own practice in theWashington D.C.area. She grew up during the time ofsegregation,attended graduate school during the height of theCivil Rights Movement,and became the first femaleAfrican-Americanto earn a Ph.D. from theUniversity of Kentuckyin 1970. She was married to David Berry, also from Kentucky.
She has been a regular contributor to many magazines such asEbony,Essence,andCover Girl.Berry has also appeared onThe Geraldo Rivera Showto give advice and counsel.
Early life and education[edit]
Born Joyce Hamilton in 1937 inLe xing ton, Kentucky,she grew up in what is now called the Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood. Her grandfather, Charles Hamilton, owned his own land in centralKentucky.[1]Her father was abarberwho owned the Sterling Barber Shop on Deweese Street, and her mother was ahomemaker.She grew up in a house owned by her father at 260 East 4th Street.[2]She had a great zeal for learning and was an outstanding student atPaul Laurence Dunbar High School (Le xing ton, Kentucky),graduating early at the age of fifteen. She and her brother were encouraged to work hard in school by their parents, but her motivation for success came from the larger African-American community. The two major Le xing ton newspapers at the time (theHeraldand theLeader)[3]published an insert called the "ColoredNews and Notes. "This section mentioned current news and activities relevant to the local Black community, including the honor roll from the high school. When Joyce failed to make the honor roll one semester, she remembers being questioned by every neighbor in her community about it. Not wanting to face a similar situation in the future, she worked harder in school and never missed the honor again.
Influences[edit]
Her mother and father encouraged her to attendHampton Instituteinstead ofHoward University.The decision to be a teacher was made after lengthy discussions with her parents. John Smith, the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from theUniversity of Kentucky,was her English teacher at Dunbar High School, also had a profound influence on her educational aspirations. She also had great self-confidence that was instilled by her parents. On one occasion while seeking to join acivil rightsprotest againstsegregationof public places in downtownLe xing ton, Kentucky,her father asked her why she wanted to go to a place and spend her money where she was not welcomed.[4]This made her hesitate about joining in public protests during the 1960s, but did not stop her from taking a strong stand forcivil rightsof African-Americans.
Education[edit]
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She attended Hampton Institute, nowHampton University,and graduated as an English major. In Virginia, she first encounteredsegregationon a larger scale. Unlike her hometown ofLe xing ton, Kentucky,the buses were segregated, with Blacks having to pay at the front, then walk to the back to enter. She never rode the bus again inVirginiaafter that initial incident. After graduating from Hampton, she returned home and taught school inLancaster, Kentucky,and at heralma materDunbar High Schoolbefore attending graduate school at theUniversity of Kentuckyin 1962. She received her master's degree in 1964, then went on in 1970 to be the first female African-American to earn a Ph.D. inPsychologyfrom theUniversity of Kentucky.She served briefly on the faculty atKentucky State Universitybefore moving toColumbia, Maryland.
Contributions to her community[edit]
Berry served her community in a number of ways during theCivil Rights Movement.She was a member of theCongress of Racial Equalityand theUrban League.[5]Her experiences as a graduate student at theUniversity of Kentuckyand later as a social services worker led her often to speak out againstdiscriminationon the basis of her race and her gender. She was a member of the Le xing ton-Fayette County Merger Commission in the early 1970s that formed the Le xing ton Fayette Urban County Government.
In the late 1970s, Berry moved to Columbia, Maryland (which is centrally located between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC), to work with the federal government. After a few years, she started her own private psychology practice (in Washington, D.C.). Today, she continues to live and work in the D.C. area specializing in marriage, family and relationship issues.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^Berry describes her family's historic ties to Kentucky in an interview with Dr. Betsy Brinson catalog no. 20 B 43,Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky Oral History Project,Kentucky Historical Society,2000. Accessed 16 September 2010. See the full transcript athttp://205.204.134.47/civil_rights_mvt/media/KCRP.20.B.43.Berry.pdf.
- ^The house still exists but with an urban renewal project in the 1980s, Elm Tree Lane would run through it, so Dr. Berry negotiated the right to have it moved to 243 East 4th Street.
- ^In the early 20th century, the Le xing ton daily newspapers were theHeraldwhich published a morning paper, and theLeaderin the afternoon, and the two newspapers combined for a Sunday publication. In 1983, theHeraldandLeadermerged to form today'sLe xing ton Herald-Leader.
- ^Interview by Allan Adams,Digital recording.October 22, 2010.Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History,Le xing ton, KY.
- ^Fosl, Catherine and K'Meyer, Tracy Elaine.Freedom on the Border: an Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky.Le xing ton:University Press of Kentucky,2000.
External links[edit]
- Audio clips of interview ofJoyce Hamilton Berry, Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky,Kentucky Historical SocietyOral History Project
- "Women of the East End of Le xing ton".Kentucky Women in the Civil Rights Era (an Open Knowledge Initiative at the University of Kentucky).RetrievedApril 17,2015.
- "Berry, Joyce Hamilton".Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, University of Kentucky Libraries.RetrievedApril 17,2015.