ON PSYCHOLOGY THEN AND NOW: THE PERSPECTIVE OF HENRY TOMES
Henry
Tomes '63 Ph.D. psychology knew he’d be facing
an academic challenge when he was accepted into Penn State’s
psychology department. But he soon discovered he’d be facing
much more: Tomes was the first Black student ever admitted to
the
clinical psychology
doctoral program.
“What became clear to me is that I was likely viewed as a ‘test,’” Tomes recalls. “And if I did okay, there would be others.”
And he did more than okay, to say the very least. Tomes, executive director of Public Interest at the American Psychological Association, recently came back to Penn State to serve as a mentor to Valerie Earnshaw, a psychology student in the new Liberal Arts Mentoring Program. Tomes agreed to participate, recalling his own unique experience in the psychology department.
“It was 1957. I had no expectations of getting help from anyone,” says Tomes. “I met a visiting Black psychologist who told me that if I became a doctoral level psychologist I’d be one of fifty-five African Americans in the whole country.”
Tomes was born in San Antonio, Texas, to parents who had very little formal schooling. His mother had about eight years of schooling and his father less than that. Their goal was for Henry to simply finish high school. After graduating, Tomes joined the Air Force, which he enjoyed, initially. However, his plans for a career in the military were soon derailed.
“I was a sergeant by age 19. Some of my superiors thought I was too young and not smart enough to hold that rank and let me know it,” Tomes said. “But the real impetus was learning that an officer whose duties I was performing was receiving almost seven times more pay.”
One positive result of Tomes’ military experience was his first exposure to the practice of psychology.
“I worked a stint in the base personnel recruiting office,” he said. “I’d often come cross evaluation reports done by psychologists which I found very interesting.”
Enrolling at Fisk University, Tomes learned that if he wanted to pursue clinical psychology, he’d need to go to graduate school.
“I was looking at Brown, University of Texas, and Penn State,” Tomes remembers. “But Brown didn’t have a clinical program and my advisor told me that the University of Texas was not ready for a Black graduate student, so I decided on Penn State.”
Assuming that State College was close to either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, he was surprised to find he had to take a bus from Altoona to reach the campus. And the surprises didn’t stop there.
“Not only was I the first Black student in the program,” says Tomes. “I soon discovered that I was one of a very few Black students in Penn State’s graduate school.”
During his time at Penn State, Tomes encountered some subtle prejudice—such as not getting a prized counseling assistantship, like many of his fellow students. Years later when he ran into the deputy director of the office, the man was honest with Tomes.
“He told me, ‘Henry you were not going to be hired—it was that simple. There weren’t enough Black students that would come to the counseling offices and white students wouldn’t want to talk to you.’”
Aware of this, the psychology faculty arranged for Tomes to have an assistantship in its clinic. He graduated in 1963 with an excellent academic record, but received no job offers. Eventually accepting a position at Meharry Medical College, Tomes went on to have a distinguished career, becoming one of the highest ranked African-Americans in former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’ administration. In his current position, Tomes works to promote ethnic diversity in the profession.
Although no other students of color were accepted during his
time at Penn State, Tomes stresses how much he enjoyed his fellow
students who helped make up what
he was missing.
“My fellow students were wonderful,” he explains. “They always
shared their mentors’ information with me. I felt luckiest because I’d
get everyone’s good advice.”