Abstract
In this interview Martha Banks Brown University class of 1973, shares what it was like growing up in Newport, Rhode Island as an African American and what it was like to attend Brown during the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and she also shares how the interdisciplinary education she received at Brown has served her throughout her life.
Banks begins by describing how her parents met and talks about her parents’ education. She then talks about how she applied to colleges, including Brown. She talks about other connections her family had to Brown and also about her graduation ceremony.
Banks describes what it was like to grow up as an African American in Newport, Rhode Island, which was divided by class and race. She talks about what it was like to attend public school and how the Navy base influenced the turnover rate of teachers at her public school. For these and other reasons Banks had trouble feeling at home in Newport and was very excited to attend Brown where she would join the largest Black undergraduate class at Brown. She describes how meaningful it was to meet and befriend other Black students from all over the world.
Banks speaks to the impact of Brown’s interdisciplinary education on her life and how it allowed her to explore and see how other fields like music could connect to her interest in psychology. It also helped her as she assumed various governance roles in organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA). Banks explains her focus areas in psychology and neuropsychology and also how she retired early after a life saving surgery. She explains how she transitioned to using her skills as a psychologist as a volunteer for the United Methodist Church.
Banks then goes on to explain how she learned about programming; first on a computer her father built and then on Brown’s IBM 360 computer. She talks about how these skills served her in her early career and also shares a funny related story from her graduate studies. Banks returns to the interdisciplinary nature of her life and talks about how music was an important part of her time at Brown and also in her life currently. Banks touches again on her early experiences growing up in Newport and how prejudiced experiences shaped her perspective of the political movements that were happening on Brown’s campus during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Banks ends by talking more about her family and how proud she is of her siblings’ and parents’ accomplishments. She talks about what it was like to attend Brown reunions with her mother. She also talks about a presentation she made with her mother for the Association for Psychology of Women about their educational experiences.
Recorded on December 18, 2023 via Zoom
Interviewed by Bernicestine McLeod Bailey ‘68
Suggested Chicago style citation: Martha Banks, class of 1973. Interview. By Bernicestine McLeod Bailey. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. December 18, 2023.
Biography
Martha Banks was born in 1951 and grew up in Newport, Rhode Island. She received her B.S. from Brown University in 1973. She earned her M.A. and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Rhode Island (URI). She is a double legacy alumna whose parents attended Brown. Banks is a retired clinical psychologist and research neuropsychologist whose work focused on issues involving women, race, trauma, disability, religion, and their intersectionality.
Banks was a founding member of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, which became the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, a division of the American Psychological Association (APA). She served as President of the Society for the Psychology of Women and as their Division Representative to the APA Council in 2012. She was also the 1997 Chair of the APA Committee on Women and served on the APA Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest.
Banks’s research and clinical work has focused on women with disabilities, including their elevated risk for physical and psychological abuse. Several of her studies look specifically at the traumatic brain injuries sustained by victims of domestic violence. Working with Rosalie Ackerman, Banks developed the Ackerman-Banks Neuropsychological Battery, which was one of the first assessments to include an ethnic minority normative sample, and the Post-Assault Traumatic Brain Injury Interview and Checklist.
Banks has received many accolades including the Sue Rosenberg Zalk Award for Distinguished Service to the Society for the Psychology of Women, the APA Presidential Citation for Leadership, and in 2012 the APA Committee on Women in Psychology honored Banks with a Distinguished Leadership Award. Banks was also honored with the President’s Distinguished Achievement Award and the University Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement from University of Rhode Island (URI).