Charles Henry Thompson

Charles Henry Thompson (19 July 1895 – 16 January 1980) was an American educational psychologist and the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree in educational psychology. He obtained a Master's degree and Ph.D at the University of Chicago. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he became an educator at Howard University. During his time at Howard, he was the dean of the liberal art college and later became the dean of Howard's graduate school, where he made several administrative and scholarship changes. Additionally, he founded The Journal of Negro Education, an academic journal pertaining to the education of African-American students. Thompson himself published more than 100 scholarly articles, editorials, and research papers, many of which pertained to the teaching and advancement of African-American students' education. Throughout his extensive academic career, he was a legal consultant for various desegregation school cases, prominently in Sweatt v. Painter, Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents. He also was a legal consultant for Brown vs. Board of Education, though to a lesser extent than the three former cases.