Martin David Jenkins, (September 4, 1904 — June 9, 1978) was an American
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
and researcher known for his work challenging theories of
race and intelligence.
Early life
Martin Jenkins was born to David and Josephine Jenkins in
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
. Jenkins was educated in racially segregated public schools until his high school years when he attended the racially integrated
Wiley High School
Terre Haute South Vigo High School is a public high school located in Terre Haute, Indiana. As the name implies, the school's district covers the southern portion of Terre Haute, as well as most of southern Vigo County, the county in which Terre ...
.
While attending Wiley, he was the captain of the track team and set
Vigo County
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...
record for the 50-yard (5.6 seconds), 100-yd (10.2 sec) and 220-yd (24.0 sec) dashes.
He graduated from Wiiley in 1921.
Personal life
In September 1927, Jenkins married Elizabeth Lacy.
Academic career
Jenkins graduated from
Howard University with
Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1925. Between 1925 and 1930, he worked with his father's firm, David Jenkins and Son, as a highway bridge contractor.
Concurrently, he attended Indiana State College (now
Indiana State University) and earned an
associate degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The fi ...
in
teacher education.
During a brief interim, Jenkins taught at
Virginia State College. In 1932, he was awarded a graduate school fellowship to
Northwestern University, the first of its kind to be awarded to a Black American at the institution.
In 1933, he received his
Master's degree and, in 1935 earned his
Ph.D. in Education.
While earning his doctorate, he studied under Prof. Paul A. Witty and wrote his dissertation called
A Socio-Psychological Study of Negro Children of Superior Intelligence" Jenkins' dissertation, and his subsequent research, were foundational to the field of
educational psychology.
Jenkins' work discussed
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) testing and worked to disprove the prevailing consensus that blacks, through a measurement of their IQ, were less intelligent than whites.
Between 1935 and 1937, Jenkins worked as register and professor of education at
North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College (now University). In 1938, he worked at
Cheyney State Teachers College as Dean of Instruction. From 1938 to 1948, Jenkins worked at his alma mater, Howard University, as professor of education. Then, in 1948, Jenkins accepted the position as president of
Morgan State College (now University) in Maryland. While serving as president during the Civil Rights era, he felt that the institution should remain apolitical and not support the civil rights movement, a decision many students disagreed with and spoke out against.
In 1970, he left Morgan State and worked as the Director of the Office of Urban Affairs for the
American Council on Education until 1974. During this period, he also worked as a consultant in higher education and as a diplomate of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Psychology.
During his career, Jenkins published over 80 scholarly articles and monographs and lectured worldwide on his intelligence testing research with aid from the
U.S. State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
.
Notable scholarship
Jenkins premier scholarship,
A Socio-Psychological Study of Negro Children of Superior Intelligence" was among the first to focus on black children of superior intelligence.
Jenkins researched black children of "superior intelligence" in grades 3-8 living in
Chicago, Illinois. Jenkins findings contradicted prevailing intelligence research that suggested that black children of high intelligences were rare and instead asserted that highly intelligent black children existed at when they were given the opportunity for educational and cultural development. Jenkins work rejected the notion that blacks had a genetic predisposition for lower intelligences and, in fact, showed that intelligence levels among blacks were as high as they were among whites. Jenkins showed that being black was not a limiting factor for one's intelligence, as previous research had claimed.
Working with his mentor Witty, Jenkins co-authored
The Case of 'B'—A Gifted Negro Girl" a descriptive
case study that observed a nine-year-old girl from Chicago whose
Stanford-Binet IQ score measured at 187. Jenkins and Witty described her developmental history, academic success, interests, friends and home life.
They described "B" as a child who provided rapid responses to questions, made high-level associations, yet was not satisfied with her own performance.
This study further provided the groundwork for research that examined blacks of significantly high intelligence.
In 1939, Jenkins published
The Mental Ability of the American Negro" a systematic review article that rejected inter-race, or white and black comparison, analysis for understanding the intelligence capabilities of blacks. Jenkins showed that there is significant overlap between black and white intelligence tests and that intra-group differences were much larger than inter-group differences. This work highlighted that more blacks and whites shared intelligence test scored rather than the majority blacks scoring lower than whites.
Awards
Jenkins was bestowed as Knight by the
Liberian Government of the
Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption. He received a Commendation for Model Cities activities by the
Department of Health, Education and Welfare and
Housing and Urban Development. He was also awarded the Andrew White Medal from
Loyola College and the
Department of the Army
The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is org ...
Outstanding Civilian Service Medal
The Meritorious Public Service Medal formerly the Outstanding Civilian Service Award is the third highest honor within the public service awards scheme of the Department of the Army that can be awarded to a private citizen.
Eligibility
The Secret ...
.
Jenkins was awarded an honorary doctorates degree by the
University of Liberia,
Delaware State College,
Howard University,
Indiana State University,
Johns Hopkins University,
Lincoln University and
Morgan State College.
In 1974, Morgan State College dedicated the Martin David Jenkins Behavior Science Center in Jenkins' honor.
Publications
A Socio-Psychological Study of Negro Children of Superior IntelligenceThe Case of "B"—A Gifted Negro GirlThe Mental Ability of the American NegroCurrent Trends in Higher Education: Democratic Government in Negro CollegesEnrollment in Institutions of Higher Education of Negroes 1940-1941
Case Studies of Negro Children of Binet IQ 160 and AboveA Listing of the Significant Programs in Institutions of Higher Education of NegroesEnrollment in Institutions of Higher Education for Negroes, 1944-1945Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education for Negroes 1946-47Graduate Work in Negro Institutions of Higher EducationThe Availability of Higher Education for Negroes in the Southern StatesThe Upper Limit of Ability among American NegroesIntellectually Superior Negro Youth: Problems and NeedsProblems Incident to Racial Integration and some Suggested Approaches to these ProblemsThe Future of the Desegregated Negro College Education: A Critical Summary
References
* Davis, J. L. (2016, April 27). Honoring Giftedness in the Black Community: A profile of Dr. Martin D. Jenkins (1904-1978). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from National Association for Gifted Children,
https://www.nagc.org/blog/honoring-giftedness-black-community-profile-dr-martin-d-jenkins-1904-1978
* Guthrie, R. V. (1998). ''Even the Rat Was White'' (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon Classics.
* IGET. (2011, May 24). Inspirations: Martin D. Jenkins Ph.D. Retrieved December 7, 2016, from IGET-Network, http://www.iget-network.org/resources/inspirations/
* Jenkins, M. D. (1936). A Socio-psychological study of negro children of superior intelligence. ''The Journal of Negro Education'', ''5''(2), 175–190.
* Jenkins, M. D. (1939). The mental ability of the American negro. ''The Journal of Negro Education'', ''8''(3), 511–524.
* Martin D. Jenkins, educator and more. Retrieved December 7, 2016, from African American Registry, http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/martin-d-jenkins-educator-and-more
* Witty, P. A., & Jenkins, M. D. (1935). The case of "B"—A gifted negro girl. ''The Journal of Social Psychology'', ''6''(1), 117–124.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Martin D.
People from Terre Haute, Indiana
1904 births
1978 deaths
Race and intelligence controversy
African-American social scientists
American social scientists
Howard University alumni
Northwestern University alumni
Indiana State University alumni
Presidents of Morgan State University
Virginia State University faculty
20th-century African-American people
20th-century American academics