A prediction that came true

Hull man saw segregated busing as a 'flashpoint'

From The Jewish Advocate, August 20-26, 1999
By Rick Small, Special to the Advocate

Hull -- Last June, in a belated gesture, the Congress of the United States bestowed its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, on Rosa Parks. In December of 1955, after a hard day of physical labor in Montgomery, Ala., the middle-aged black woman, Mrs. Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus. This small gesture to human dignity began one of the great social upheavals of modern times -- the American Civil Rights movement.

As Martin Grossack, a retired psychologist from Hull, watched the ceremonies honoring Mrs. Parks, he reflected on his own prophetic part in the historic southern bus boycotts.

Grossack, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, was raised in the then predominantly Jewish Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Showing early scholastic aptitude, at 16 years of age he entered Northeastern University. There he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. He went on to Boston University where he obtained a Ph.D. in social psychology. His dissertation was an analysis of an experiment in small group interaction.

After marrying and a hitch in the Air Force, he spent the academic years of 1952 and 1953 as a psychology professor at the small Negro College, Philander Smith, in Little Rock, Ark.

It was during his tenure in Arkansas that Grossack became aware of the perniciousness of discrimination as practiced in southern public transit bus systems.

"It was the one area of segregated life my students could not avoid," said Grossack. "They could avoid restaurants and shops that demeaned them, but there was no alternative to the buses. They had to ride them to school and work. It was the one complaint I heard universally from all my students."{

With this knowledge and his growing awareness of the other negative attributes of Jim Crow in the south, Grossack began to apply his training in social psychology to the situation of blacks in a repressive culture. He believed that the strain would become too much and that in the not distant future, blacks would demand justice.

In 1953, two years before Rosa Parks made here momentous decision to no longer acquiesce in her own degradation, Grossack delivered a paper to the Arkansas Academy of Science, "Psychological Effects of Segregation on Buses."

The essay, reprinted in the Academy's publication, predicted that segregated busing would become the flashpoint at which southern blacks would rebel against the whole system that had debased them since the era of Reconstruction.

"Of course Mrs. Parks did not read my paper, or even hear about it," said Grossack. "At that time it only appeared in a very small scholarly journal. It was very well received by this limited audience. In fact, the administration of Philander Smith had an assembly for faculty and the whole student body, for me to deliver it. Their reaction was very positive and gratifying."

After his stint in Arkansas, Grossack went on to a number of clinical assignments in hospitals in the Midwest and New England. He also counseled for Jewish Social Services and taught at the University of Hawaii, Curry College and Suffolk University. For many years, while also teaching, writing and editing, he ran a successful clinical practice in Brookline. He became a recognized authority on the psychology of advertising.

With all of his successes in a variety of related fields, Grossack believes that his accurate prediction of the start of the civil rights movement on the buses of the south, was his most meaningful contribution to social psychology.

Although many psychologists can point to reliable predictions within controlled laboratory situations, very few social scientists can cite accurate forecasts of historical human movements. The retired psychologist is proud of his oracular achievement. Yet, with the modesty of a scholar, he claimed, "I was at the right place at the right time. I just applied my training to what I was witnessing. The result was sure and predictable as any basic experiment in high school chemistry."


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HOMEPAGE LARGE GROUP AWARENESS TRAINING IN RADICAL THERAPY FOR VICTIMS OF LEGAL AND GOVERNMENT ABUSE RADICAL SELF THERAPY Dr. Martin Grossack BOOKSTORE Dr. Grossack on Wikipedia Biographical Sketch Photographs Obituaries Family Genealogy A prediction that came true Other Useful Links History of Psychology ABRAHAM MASLOW Nataniel Branden Timothy Leary Evolutionary Psychology Amarican Psychology Association Self Hypnosis The Radical Psychology Network Atheism	A prediction that came true Hull man saw segregated busing as a 'flashpoint' From The Jewish Advocate, August 20-26, 1999 By Rick Small, Special to the Advocate Hull -- Last June, in a belated gesture, the Congress of the United States bestowed its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, on Rosa Parks. In December of 1955, after a hard day of physical labor in Montgomery, Ala., the middle-aged black woman, Mrs. Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus. This small gesture to human dignity began one of the great social upheavals of modern times -- the American Civil Rights movement. As Martin Grossack, a retired psychologist from Hull, watched the ceremonies honoring Mrs. Parks, he reflected on his own prophetic part in the historic southern bus boycotts. Grossack, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, was raised in the then predominantly Jewish Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Showing early scholastic aptitude, at 16 years of age he entered Northeastern University. There he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. He went on to Boston University where he obtained a Ph.D. in social psychology. His dissertation was an analysis of an experiment in small group interaction. After marrying and a hitch in the Air Force, he spent the academic years of 1952 and 1953 as a psychology professor at the small Negro College, Philander Smith, in Little Rock, Ark. It was during his tenure in Arkansas that Grossack became aware of the perniciousness of discrimination as practiced in southern public transit bus systems. "It was the one area of segregated life my students could not avoid," said Grossack. "They could avoid restaurants and shops that demeaned them, but there was no alternative to the buses. They had to ride them to school and work. It was the one complaint I heard universally from all my students."{ With this knowledge and his growing awareness of the other negative attributes of Jim Crow in the south, Grossack began to apply his training in social psychology to the situation of blacks in a repressive culture. He believed that the strain would become too much and that in the not distant future, blacks would demand justice. In 1953, two years before Rosa Parks made here momentous decision to no longer acquiesce in her own degradation, Grossack delivered a paper to the Arkansas Academy of Science, "Psychological Effects of Segregation on Buses." The essay, reprinted in the Academy's publication, predicted that segregated busing would become the flashpoint at which southern blacks would rebel against the whole system that had debased them since the era of Reconstruction. "Of course Mrs. Parks did not read my paper, or even hear about it," said Grossack. "At that time it only appeared in a very small scholarly journal. It was very well received by this limited audience. In fact, the administration of Philander Smith had an assembly for faculty and the whole student body, for me to deliver it. Their reaction was very positive and gratifying." After his stint in Arkansas, Grossack went on to a number of clinical assignments in hospitals in the Midwest and New England. He also counseled for Jewish Social Services and taught at the University of Hawaii, Curry College and Suffolk University. For many years, while also teaching, writing and editing, he ran a successful clinical practice in Brookline. He became a recognized authority on the psychology of advertising. With all of his successes in a variety of related fields, Grossack believes that his accurate prediction of the start of the civil rights movement on the buses of the south, was his most meaningful contribution to social psychology. Although many psychologists can point to reliable predictions within controlled laboratory situations, very few social scientists can cite accurate forecasts of historical human movements. The retired psychologist is proud of his oracular achievement. Yet, with the modesty of a scholar, he claimed, "I was at the right place at the right time. I just applied my training to what I was witnessing. The result was sure and predictable as any basic experiment in high school chemistry."
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