Social Work and the Black Experience

Elmer P. Martin, PhD, is professor of social work at Morgan State University, Baltimore. Dr. Martin received his undergraduate degree in sociology from Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri; a master's degree in sociology from Atlanta University; and a PhD in social welfare from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

Joanne Mitchell Martin, PhD, is executive director of the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore. She received her bachelor's degree in French from Florida A&M University, Tallahassee; a master's degree in French from Atlanta University; a master's degree in reading from Case Western Reserve University; and her PhD in educational psychology from Howard University, Washington, DC.

The Martins are coauthors of The Black Extended Family (University of Chicago Press, 1978) and The Helping Tradition in the Black Family and Community (NASW Press, 1985). They are cofounders of the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, America's first wax museum of African American history. They have conducted numerous lectures, workshops, and seminars and are noted for their work with black youths, black families, and black prisoners. Throughout their professional careers they have been laying the theoretical and practice foundation for black experience-based social work.