Today We Celebrate Dr. Huberta Jackson-Lowman

​Huberta Jackson-Lowman is a Full Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, and a past Department Chair.  She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in FAMU’s Department of Psychology, the only Psychology Department in the US that claims an Afrikan-centered thrust. She is the editor of the anthology, Afrikan American Women: Living at the Crossroads of Race, Gender, Class and Culture (2014.)  Currently, she serves as the President of the National Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), which is composed of psychologists of Afrikan ancestry in the United States and around the world.  She is certified through the Association of Black Psychologists as a diplomate and fellow in Afrikan-centered psychology.

Dr. Jackson-Lowman demonstrates an ongoing commitment to the health and well-being of Black families and youth.  Prior to relocating to Tallahassee, FL, she resided in Pittsburgh, PA. Her work experiences there include serving as the Director of the Mayor’s Commission on Families, an initiative designed to address the high black infant mortality rate in Pittsburgh, and as co-director of the Institute for Black Families which implemented primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs for families.  She was also a co-founder of the Sankofa  Institute of Pittsburgh, a grassroots Rites of Passage initiative for adolescents; and an active member of the Advocates for African American Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS). The Advocates engaged in research, community educational, organizational, and advocacy strategies that challenged the Pittsburgh School Board’s failure to educate Black children.  In 1992, along with her husband and several other activists in the Pittsburgh community, the Advocates filed a legal complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission against the PPS for its dismal failure to educate Black children and youth. As a result of the complaint, the Pittsburgh Board of Education agreed to set up an Equity Commission charged with monitoring the progress and undertaking efforts to enhance the educational outcomes of Afrikan American students.

A current project involves the implementation of Community Healing Days in Tallahassee.  Community Healing DaysSM, developed by the Community Healing Network (CHN), is a national initiative designed to place healing on the agenda of people of Afrikan ancestry.  It is a three-day event, typically held during the third weekend of October, which focuses on raising consciousness about the impact of the myth of black inferiority and the lie of white superiority on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the Black community, and which also strives to promote the truth about people of Afrikan ancestry. The Tallahassee Community Healing Coalition will hold its seventh annual Community Healing DaysSM in October 2018. In addition to these activities, Dr. Jackson-Lowman served as a Commissioner on the Tallahassee/Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls from 2013-15.

Dr. Jackson-Lowman has also been instrumental in training trainers to implement  Emotional Emancipation CirclesSM (EECs) in the greater Tallahassee community.  EECs are self-help groups developed by CHN in collaboration with ABPsi.  They are designed to assist the Black community in its recovery from the myth of black inferiority and lie of white superiority, and to foster the reclamation of our cultural values and ways of functioning.  In the coming year, she plans to initiate EECs in Tallahassee community.  

In 2008, The Association of Black Psychologists recognized Dr. Jackson-Lowman for her contributions to research and scholarship within ABPSI.  One area of focus of her research examines the effects of cultural identity and cultural misorientation on Black women’s  attitudes, behaviors, mental health, and  relationships. She has developed measures examining the internalization of myths of Black womanhood--The Engendered Racial Myths Scale (ERMS)—and relationships between Black women--Black Women’s Relationship Scale (BWRS).  She has also published articles examining use of proverbs to promote cultural socialization.  An emerging area of research in which she has also published promotes the use of cultural policy to empower troubled neighborhoods.  

Wife of William Lowman, her incessant supporter, and mother of three adult children, she also revels in her role as grandmother to her five beautiful grandchildren. She is an initiate in the Lukumi/Yoruba spiritual system and provides spiritual coaching and consultation to those seeking to return to their Afrikan roots.