A Founder of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), Celebrating his life journey—April 10, 1923—January 5, 1923
By Dr. Benson G. Cooke, ABPsi Historian
Remember the wisdom of your ancestors in order to become wise.—African Proverb
Background.
Born April 10, 1923, in New Haven, Connecticut to his mother, Flora Jefferson Escoffery (born during the Reconstruction Period in Camden, South Carolina), and his father, Gerald Summerville Escoffery (who was born in Jamaica, British West Indies). His parents would eventually migrate to New Haven, Connecticut, where they would meet and marry in the latter months of World War I. In 1921, his brother Gerald Wellington Escoffery was born. Unfortunately, in addition to the conflict of world war, he would also grow up during the challenges of the catastrophic economic collapse of the Great Depression in the 1920s.
Education.
His love for learning would be cultivated by attending public schools in New Haven, Connecticut, where classroom learning would include field trips to museums and other historical sites. Unfortunately, the ravages of the Great Depression would make it hard for his father to sustain steady employment. So, in 1935 the whole family moved from an urban setting to a more rural location in West Haven, Connecticut. In West Haven, he would continue to benefit from an excellent educational experience through High School. As the only Black student through his education in West Haven, he would also experience an early education that was absent of any Black teachers.
Early Employment.
After graduating from High School at 17, he accepted a tuition scholarship to attend Howard University. However, his father’s illness and his mother’s role as caretaker would result in Dr. Escoffery seeking a job to help support the family. As the Depression was still in effect, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), later finding a job as an upholstery assistant at a Chevrolet dealership in New Haven. About a year later, he would find employment at the Winchester Rifle Company in New Haven.
Military Experience.
So, after a very brief college experience at Yale University in March of 1943 and following two draft deferments because of his vital war work during World War II, he would be drafted to serve in the Army and trained at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In his ABPsi biographical statement, he said, “I was exposed to my first bitter taste of blatant racism.” “This was a time when the military forces in 1943 were completely segregated in every respect”. Eventually, after completing basic training, his company would be stationed in Casablanca, Morocco, in North Africa. His unit would subsequently travel to Oran, Algeria, and eventually be stationed in India, operating a transportation service for American, British, and Indian troops. Ultimately, his company would be transferred to serve in China and Burma. Finally, in August of 1945, at the end of World War II, his company was deactivated and returned to the United States.
Undergraduate Education.
In 1946, he would once again pursue his interest in receiving a college education by enrolling in the School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York City. His emersion into a broad liberal arts curriculum would eventually expose him to psychology. At that time, psychology was young and focused more on a laboratory, experimental field of study. He was taught by many of the founding experimental psychologists of the time. In the summer of 1950, he earned his B.A. Degree in Psychology. Taking advantage of his G.I. Bill, he immediately enrolled in the M.A. Degree program in psychology (taking an overload of courses) to complete his graduate degree in January 1951. With these two degrees under his belt and previously married in 1948, it was time to secure a job to support his wife and anticipated family.
Early Employment History.
He applied for a job at Virginia State College (an HBCU) and was hired in 1954 as an instructor of psychology. From here, he was able to teach and establish a learning laboratory at a nearby large mental hospital. He also established connections with the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Dr. Escoffery continued to progress up the academic ladder from Instructor (1951-1956) to Assistant Professor (1957, Associate Professor (1961, and Full Professor (1967). Throughout this period, he held concurrent posts as a Consultant to Central State Hospital and the Petersburg Training School and Hospital, as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Connecticut, and as a member of a research team sponsored by Smith, Kline, and French Pharmaceutical Company (who at that time were investigating “The Effects of Thorazine on Functional Psychotics”).
Doctoral Study.
Although by 1960, he had completed all the requirements, except his dissertation for Ph.D., he became bogged down with faculty workloads. However, in 1966, he received a paid leave to complete his dissertation. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Personality/Clinical Psychology after successfully completing and defending his dissertation in June 1967 titled: “Personality and Behavior Correlates in Afro-American belief in Fate Control.” During this same period, he was made a University Fellow at the University of Connecticut and worked as a research statistician and consultant at the Connecticut Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, headed by a Black Commissioner, Dr. James Peters. Invited to teach at multiple universities, he was invited to create a course on the Psychology of African Americans at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. The course titled: “Psychodynamics of the African American”, would be the first time a course on this topic was created and taught.
Founding Member of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi).
Having been a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), he attended conferences since the 1950s. However, dissatisfaction had been fermenting among the growing number of Black psychologists for some time resulting from longstanding systemic and institutional racism.
During the 1968 APA convention, an active group of Black Psychologists (of which he was a part) gathered to discuss recommendations, resulting in several Black Psychologists being formed to meet with the organizational committees of the APA. Part of their task was to report to the core group of concerned Black Psychologists the outcome of their collective demands for equity and inclusion. On September 2, 1968, the group made a fateful decision to form a separate organization that would have at its concern the enlivenment of the Black community. This organization would become the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). As he would describe it then, “ABPsi was off and running, a vibrant independent organization dedicated to fighting for the improvement of the life and liberty for all Americans of African descent. All of us at these meetings participated in the discussions and felt a sense of exhilaration, pride, and hope for the future of mankind. Were we too hopeful, too naïve, too optimistic, and too forgetful of man’s long history of injustice to one other? Only time will tell”.
Later Employment.
As the ABPsi started its evolution, Dr. Escoffery made another career change in 1970 by leaving Virginia State University to become the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Norfolk State College. Here he would grow the program faculty, the curriculum, and student enrollment in psychology. He would also acquire state and federal funding to expand the department from an undergraduate degree program into a master’s degree and eventually into a Doctoral Program. He would also serve additional leadership roles:
- Visiting Scientist/Scholar for the National Science Foundation.
- Consultant to the Community/Clinical Psychology project for Virginia’s Governor Holton to serve on the Virginia Board of Psychology (the first Black to do so).
- Member of the Community Faculty for the Psychiatry Department of Eastern Virginia Medical School.
- Regional Consultant for Drug Education for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) from 1970-1976.
In 1983, Dr. Escoffery retired from Norfolk State University and went into private practice for several years before emerging out of retirement to accept the invitation to become Chair of the Psychology Department at Hampton University in 1988 through June of 1990, when he would retire again back into private clinical practice. However, in June 1992, he was invited into another university leadership position. This time it would be as the Executive Assistant to the Chancellor of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Initially designated as a six-month stint, he would serve for 3 ½ years. Following this leadership position, he returned to a life of relaxation, travel with his family, and an occasional adjunct class to teach. However, …yes…once again…duty called…(smile)! This time, his previous boss Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins (then President of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida, in January of 1997), requested that Dr. Escoffery serve as the Provost/Executive Vice President of Edward Waters College. This position was limited to one year. After this leadership role, he returned to a more leisurely life sprinkled with some adjunct teaching, once again allowing him time to travel with his wife and spend time with his two daughters and their families.
So, in observance of his homegoing celebration, we celebrate the wisdom, leadership, and love for the ABPsi of Dr. Aubrey Spencer Escoffery during his presence in our lives. He was a man who undoubtedly was known and celebrated for his compassionate healing, intellectual and educational instruction, as well as his expert leadership. A man who was a loving husband, father, grandfather, a great-grandfather and of course his family’s elder. A time in which we remember and honor the man who has spent his life giving of his time, intellect, and genuine desire to serve others.
Therefore, in closing, on behalf of The Association of Black Psychologists (an association he helped to establish), we want to celebrate his new status as an Ancestor of the ABPsi. Additionally, we, The ABPsi, want to take this time to especially thank his family for allowing the ABPsi to share his time, energy, and devotion to our beloved association.
