On the occasion of the 131st annual meeting, the American Psychological Association recognizes Beverly Greene, PhDopens in new window, for her outstanding lifetime contributions to psychology as an inspiring, award winning educator of all levels from the undergraduate to the post-doctoral, as a practicing clinical psychologist doing intersectional feminist therapy with marginalized people in settings ranging from county hospitals to private practices, and as a prolific and incisive scholar who has devoted her career, and her life, to lifting up marginalized people. Her work has been dedicated to making visible the invisible, to speaking for the silenced, and to shining a light on what has been hidden by a profession that has too often colluded with structural and systemic forms of oppression. She has been the best sort of iconoclast. While she has challenged destructive norms and constructs, she has also been instrumental in building a foundation for the next generation of psychologists on which to build more honest, equitable work.
Greene has broken through ceilings that were not simply made of glass but were intended to be shatterproof against people like her, and immune to ideas like hers. As one of the first openly lesbian African American psychologists, she risked dealing with racism in the LGBTQA psychology community, and antilesbian bias among her colleagues of color. Yet she has persisted, an almost prophetic voice calling all of the strands of her own intersectional identities and the communities that they derive from to come together to work as one anothers’ allies, and to resist attempts to triangulate them against each other.
Greene’s vision and passion for social justice derive from her family of origin. Raised as the eldest child of two devoted and loving parents who taught her that there was no obstacle larger than her enormous intelligence and aspirations, she has never faltered in the integration of her professional identity with all struggles for a more just world. Among her striking accomplishments have been her work bringing Jewish and African-American feminist practitioners together around our shared heritages of oppression and alliance, as well as working with communities of extreme poverty and creating high-quality service delivery systems in institutions that were more interested in blaming the victims, when she arrived, than in serving them in a more culturally responsive manner. Of course, she is among the mothers of womanist psychology and the deepened understanding of the lived experiences of African American women. When Greene sees a problem, she cannot rest until she has moved toward solutions.
One of her strategies for changing and healing the broken systems which she had to enter in order to join this profession and work within it has been writing. A sustained and prolific scholar on such topics as the intersectional challenges of African American lesbians in particular, and African American women in general, she has been a leading voice in the development of intersectional feminist and womanist psychotherapies. She is the author/co-editor of over one hundred scholarly publications. Her writing has been compelling and has led to her receiving twelve well-deserved awards from a wide range of organizations recognizing the high and persistent quality of her scholarship.
Greene has received over 40 illustrious awards for contributions to scholarship, leadership, mentoring, teaching, service, and advocacy, including APA’s prestigious Senior Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest; and two APA Presidential Citations. She is an elected fellow of nine APA divisions; is board certified in clinical psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology; and is a Fellow of the Academy of Clinical Psychology. She is an honoree of the Ackerman Institute for Families Moving Families Forward Award, and her contributions are featured in Mental Health America’s 2021 Website Salute to Black Pioneers in Mental Health.
A native of New Jersey but a life-long resident of Brooklyn who delights in taking all comers to Junior’s restaurant to ensure that they have a taste of its famous cheesecake, Greene is now the matriarch of a large extended and loving family. While her family is diverse in its views, it is clear that her passion for and appreciation of the beauty of human difference both comes from and is reflected by that family. She is a doting aunt and great-aunt to many exceptional young people, photos and videos of whom are what populate her social media feeds. In that, we see the quintessence of Beverly Greene; she is not speaking of her own accomplishments in these spaces, rather, she is highlighting the luminosity of the young people in her family’s next generations.
Greene’s colleagues describe her as brilliant, funny, warm, incisive, and not someone who suffers fools when foolishness is expressed as casual forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, or other taken-for-granted versions of systemic oppression. She is, not secretly, a fan of the Star Trek universe, which she in part appreciates because it was, in her youth, and since that time, one of the few enduring locations of popular culture that has always highlighted and celebrated human diversity, as well as shown compassion for people’s struggles with their own biases. For those who speak Star Trek, we can say that she is a little bit Bajoran (highly empathic), a little bit Klingon (ferocious in defending others), and a tad El-Aurian, like Guinan, the apparently ageless bartender on the Enterprise who presided with wisdom and humor, ever able to calm agitated colleagues and give wise counsel to leaders.
In short, Greene embodies the operational definition of excellence in psychology. She is a leader, a mentor, an educator, a scholar, a healer, and a deeply wise and empathic human being. She is never frightened by oppression. She is angered and energized into action by its presence. Our field owes her a debt of gratitude that we can only repay by attempting, as best we are able, to put into practice the anti-oppressive values that her life and work represent.
With deep gratitude for your exceptional career as a professor, scholar, practitioner, committed social justice advocate, and as one of the most extraordinary leaders in American psychology, the American Psychological Association is privileged to present you with the 2023 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology.
[Editor's Note: Beverly Greene was editor of the Division 44 Book Series for many years. A report of this award may be found on the St. John's University Websiteopens in new window. A transcript of an oral history interview with her is available on Psychology's Feminist Voicesopens in new window. An entry for Beverly Greene is also available on Wikipediaopens in new window.]