Joyce Hamilton Berry facts for kids

Joyce Hamilton Berry was born in 1937. She is an American clinical psychologist. She has her own practice in the Washington D.C. area.

Joyce grew up when segregation was common. She went to graduate school during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1970, she made history. She became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. She was married to David Berry. He was also from Kentucky.

Joyce has written for many magazines. These include Ebony and Essence. She also appeared on The Geraldo Rivera Show. There she shared her advice and wisdom.

Joyce Berry's Early Life and School

Joyce Hamilton was born in 1937. Her hometown was Lexington, Kentucky. She grew up in a neighborhood now called Martin Luther King Jr. Her grandfather, Charles Hamilton, owned land in central Kentucky.

Her father was a barber. He owned the Sterling Barber Shop. Her mother was a homemaker. Joyce lived in a house her father owned. It was at 260 East 4th Street.

Joyce loved to learn. She was an excellent student. She graduated early from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (Lexington, Kentucky). She was only fifteen years old. Her parents encouraged her and her brother to study hard. But her drive to succeed also came from her community.

Local newspapers had a section called "Colored News and Notes." This section shared news about the local Black community. It also listed honor roll students. One semester, Joyce did not make the honor roll. Every neighbor asked her about it. She did not want that to happen again. So, she worked harder and always made the honor roll after that.

People Who Influenced Joyce

Joyce's parents encouraged her to attend Hampton Institute. This was instead of Howard University. She decided to become a teacher after talking a lot with her parents.

John Smith was her English teacher at Dunbar High School. He was the first African-American to get a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. He greatly influenced her school goals. Her parents also gave her strong self-confidence.

Once, she wanted to join a civil rights protest. It was against segregation in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Her father asked her why she would spend money in a place where she was not welcome. This made her think twice about public protests. But it did not stop her from supporting civil rights for African-Americans.

Joyce's College Education

Joyce attended Hampton Institute. It is now called Hampton University. She majored in English. In Virginia, she saw segregation on a larger scale.

Unlike Lexington, the buses in Virginia were segregated. Black people had to pay at the front. Then they had to walk to the back of the bus to enter. After that first time, she never rode a bus in Virginia again.

After graduating from Hampton, she returned home. She taught school in Lancaster, Kentucky. She also taught at her old school, Dunbar High School.

In 1962, she went to graduate school. She studied at the University of Kentucky. She earned her master's degree in 1964. In 1970, she made history again. She was the first African-American woman to get a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Kentucky. She taught briefly at Kentucky State University. Then she moved to Columbia, Maryland.

Helping Her Community

Joyce Berry helped her community in many ways. This was during the Civil Rights Movement. She was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality. She also joined the Urban League.

Her experiences as a student at the University of Kentucky were important. Later, she worked in social services. These experiences often led her to speak out. She spoke against discrimination based on her race and gender.

In the early 1970s, she joined the Lexington-Fayette County Merger Commission. This group created the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government.

In the late 1970s, Berry moved to Columbia, Maryland. This city is between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. She worked for the federal government. After a few years, she started her own psychology practice. It was in Washington, D.C. Today, she still lives and works in the D.C. area. She helps people with marriage, family, and relationship issues.