In 1943, Clark received her Ph.D. from Columbia University, making her the first black woman to earn a psychology doctorate at Columbia, and the second black person - her husband Kenneth having been the first. With characteristic determination, Clark had selected Henry E. Garrett as her sponsoring dissertation professor - Garrett was an exceptional statistician but also an open racist whom she later confronted under oath during a court case. Garrett was testifying as to the mental inferiority of black children. Unsurprisingly, upon graduating Clark encountered immense difficulty in finding work as a psychologist. As she explained her situation: "Although my husband had earlier secured a teaching position at the City College of New York, following my graduation it soon became apparent to me that a black female with a Ph.D. in psychology was an unwanted anomaly in New York City in the early 1940s.