Dr. Carolyn L. Robertson Payton, born May 13, 1925, in Norfolk, Virginia, was a trailblazer as the first African American and first woman to serve as director of the U.S. Peace Corps, appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. The daughter of Bertha M. Flanagan, a seamstress, and Leroy S. Robertson, a ship steward, she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1941 and earned a B.S. in Home Economics from Bennett College in 1945, later establishing a scholarship fund there in the 1990s. Payton pursued graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, funded by Virginia’s policy of sending Black students out of state for advanced degrees to avoid integrating its universities. She earned her Master’s in Psychology in 1948 and later a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1962. Her early career included roles as a psychologist at Livingston College, a psychology instructor and dean of women at Elizabeth City State Teachers College, and a faculty member at Howard University.
Joining the Peace Corps in 1964, Payton served as country director for the Eastern Caribbean in Barbados from 1966 to 1970. As Peace Corps director in 1977, her tenure lasted only 13 months due to conflicts with Sam Brown, the director of ACTION, over the agency’s mission, strategies, and nonpolitical stance for volunteers. Payton’s most enduring legacy was at Howard University, where she directed the Counseling Service (HUCS) from 1970 to 1977 and served as dean of counseling and career development from 1979 until her retirement in 1995. She pioneered clinical materials for counseling African American clients, which were adopted by the American Psychological Association (APA), and advanced group therapy techniques tailored for African American men and women.
A dedicated APA member for over 40 years, Payton helped establish the Task Force on the Psychology of Black Women in 1976 and served on committees like the Committee on Women in Psychology and the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns Committee. She earned the APA’s Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service Award in 1982 and the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology Award in 1997. The APA’s Carolyn Payton Early Career Award honors her legacy.
Dr. Payton died of a heart attack on April 11, 2001, at age 75 in Washington, D.C. The Peace Corps lowered its flag to half-staff at its headquarters in her honor.