Alvin F. Poussaint, a psychiatrist who provided medical care to civil rights activists in 1960s Mississippi and later became a national authority on the effects of racism on Black mental health, died Monday at his home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He was 90. His wife, Dr. Tina Young Poussaint, confirmed his death.
Born May 15, 1934, in East Harlem, New York City, Poussaint graduated from Stuyvesant High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College in 1956 and a medical degree from Cornell University in 1960. He completed his residency at the University of California, Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute, where he was chief resident from 1964 to 1965.
Driven by the fight for racial equality, Poussaint served as the southern field director for the Medical Committee for Human Rights from 1965 to 1967, providing care to civil rights workers in Mississippi and working to desegregate hospitals throughout the South. He later joined the faculty at Tufts University Medical School, where he directed a psychiatric program in a low-income housing development. In 1969, Poussaint began teaching at Harvard Medical School, ultimately serving as a professor of psychiatry and the faculty associate dean for student affairs.
Poussaint’s research spanned topics such as grief, parenting, violence, and the experiences of children from interracial families. His 1972 book, Why Blacks Kill Blacks, examined how systemic racism affects Black psychological development. He also co-authored Raising Black Children and Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African Americans, highlighting issues often overlooked in mainstream mental health discussions.
Beyond academia, Poussaint became a prominent cultural advisor. From 1984 to 1993, he worked as a consultant for The Cosby Show and its spinoff, A Different World. His role was to ensure that the programs portrayed Black families in a positive and realistic light, free from harmful stereotypes. While often cited as the inspiration for the character of Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Poussaint denied the claim but acknowledged his influence on the show’s direction. “I don’t rewrite,” he told The Philadelphia Daily News in 1985. “But I indicate what makes sense, what’s off, what’s too inconsistent with reality.”
His collaboration with Bill Cosby extended to co-writing the 2007 book, “Come On, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors” and contributing the introduction and afterword to Cosby’s best-selling book “Fatherhood.” Although Poussaint worked closely with Cosby on various projects, there is no evidence he was aware of the allegations that later emerged against the entertainer.
A firm believer in addressing racism’s profound psychological impact, Poussaint was known for challenging conventional views. In a 1999 opinion piece, he wrote, “It’s time for the American Psychiatric Association to designate extreme racism as a mental health problem. Otherwise, racists will continue to fall through the cracks of the mental health system, and we can expect more of them to act out their deadly delusions.”
Poussaint’s influence extended into politics, serving as Massachusetts co-chairman for Reverend Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign. Over his career, he received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including a New England Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Special in 1997 for his work on Willoughby’s Wonders. He was a member of several organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and Sigma Pi Phi fraternity.
Poussaint is survived by his wife, Dr. Tina Young Poussaint, and their children.
