A black psychologist remembers 1960

Yesterday I was writing about The Help, which is full of caricatures but reminded me of the real South in the 1960s.  I also recalled a black psycholgist who spoke at my dad's memorial service in October 1999.  Here's a letter he wrote for a gathering for my dad in 1997:

Columbia, S.C. 29204

May 15, 1997

Dear Dr. Martin,

            Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  As I think back on the many years I have known you, it becomes very clear that next to my father you have been the most influential man in my life.  On your birthday it is probably appropriate to count the number of years you have accumulated since birth.  They indeed are many and I am very happy for you.  However I would rather focus on some of the things and ways that you have given to me.

            Thank you for recruiting and hiring me to your staff in 1960.  By doing so, you not only fulfilled a lifelong dream but enabled me to become one of the early black psychologists in the state.  (This happened just as I was about to become a high school teacher/coach).

            I remember the training seminars that we had where us guys from State park (Now called Crafts Farrow) with our black college degrees had the opportunity to match skill, wit, intelligence and common sense with the people from the other world (S.C. State Hospital, USC and other white school graduates).  You were not only aware of all the underlying issues but stayed on top of them and made sure that we learned from each other what living together was all about.

            Thank you for facilitating the opportunity for me to attend graduate school not only at one of the prestigious institutions, Washington University, but also at what must have been the best terminal Master Degree Programs in clinical psychology—Hays State College.

            I remember how you ran interference for our staff at Crafts Farrow when Dr. Tarbax said we were not qualified to do psychotherapy, that only psychiatrists could do such.  You handled him very gently and by the time you finished, it became clear that he didn’t even know the meaning of the word, and you were able to please him by calling our psychotherapy sessions “Group Therapy.”

            Thank you for teaching me to be a change agent.  Lessons from this area have proved most helpful when, as often is the case, I am surrounded by, if not outright hostile individuals, at least persons who do not have my better interests in mind.  

            I remember you inviting us to SF Psychological Association meetings knowing that there were those who not only opposed our being there, but also resented you for inviting us.  Such was the society in which we lived.

            This letter reminds me of one of those dissertations that you used to write to us.  However, I bring this thesis to a close by saying—THANK YOU MOST OF ALL FOR BEING WHO YOU ARE AND FOR HELPING ME TO BECOME WHO I AM  

            Once gain HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

            Love,

            Moses

What a wonderful tribute to Daddy!  And what an interesting report on the past!