The article examines the career of sociologist-social psychologist Louisa Pinkham Holt with particular emphasis on her expert testimony in the landmark racial desegregation case of Brown v. Topeka Board of… Click to show full abstract
The article examines the career of sociologist-social psychologist Louisa Pinkham Holt with particular emphasis on her expert testimony in the landmark racial desegregation case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. I provide some necessary background information on Louisa's upbringing, education and professional training that helps to contextualize and explain her testimony. I then describe some of the later consequences of her involvement in Brown v. Board, including a portrayal of her role in a popular film, and I sketch out the details of her subsequent, non-conforming professional career. I conclude that although Louisa is not widely remembered today, her expert testimony remains one of the most successful examples of "public sociology.
               
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