On the basis of race, Clark's application for admission to graduate school at Cornell University was rejected, because he was told, PhD candidates "developed a close interpersonal, social relationship. They were sure that I would feel uncomfortable, that I would feel awkward in that situation since they worked very closely with the professors. Kenneth Clark was the first African American that earned a doctoral degree in Colombia University. Even though Mamie Phillips Clark faced both race and sex discrimination, she still earned a doctoral degree at Colombia. “A black female with a PhD in psychology was an unwanted anomaly in NYC in the early 1940s following my graduation”, Mamie wrote.