Albert Sidney Beckham founded the Psychological Laboratory at Howard University.[1]
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Albert Sidney Beckham was born on September 21, 1897 in Camden, South Carolina to Elizabeth and Albert Beckham.[2] Beckham’s early educational experiences took place at a Presbyterian School of Camden and from private tutoring.[3]
In 1915, he graduated from Lincoln University located in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree.[4] He received a second Bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1916.[5] He received his Masters degree in Psychology in 1917.[6] In 1930, he received his PhD in psychology from New York University.[7]
Beckham was a member of the Air Corps during World War II.[8] He was denied training in the Air Corps, but was able to contribute to the war by teaching psychology at a college.[9] Resulting from this, he was moved to the Sergeant’s Army Training Corps in 1917 to 1918 and the a war psychology professor at Wilberforce University in Ohio until 1920.[10] After that, Beckham moved to New York. In New York he was the editor of the New York City Dispatch.[11] Preceding that, he left that job to become a Jay Gould Fellow in Psychology at New York University.[12] In 1924, he became a professor at Howard University.[13] Here he was assistant professor of psychology from 1925 to 1928. He founded the Psychological laboratory at Howard University.[14] A quite bit of his life was spent as a school psychologist a DuSable High School where he created parent counseling groups and a psychology clinic.[15] In 1960 until 1963 he was a psychological consultant at Ada S. McKinley Community House in Chicago.[16] Here, he studied mentally challenged population through vocational training. Beckham’s Wife, Dr. Ruth W. Howard and he created a practice in clinical psychology which was known as The Center for Psychological Service.[17]
Beckham was a member of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene at the Illinois Institution for Juvenile Research in 1929 to 1930.[18] He was also senior assistant psychologist there from 1931 to 1935.[19] He was member of the Chicago’s Board of Education and the Bureau of Child Study.[20] Beckham Affiliated with the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Chicago Psychology Club, American Psychology Association, Illinois Psychological Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Chicago Friends of the Mentally Ill.[21]
Beckham did research and created the “Minimum Levels of Intelligence for Certain Occupations” which end up becoming the guide for state institutions for training the mentally challenged populations.[22]