Background
Ruth Winifred Howard was born in Washington District of Columbia She was the daughter of Reverend William J. Howard and his wife Alverda Brown Howard, and she had 7 siblings.
Ruth Winifred Howard was born in Washington District of Columbia She was the daughter of Reverend William J. Howard and his wife Alverda Brown Howard, and she had 7 siblings.
In 1916, she graduated from the old M Street High school, now known as Dunbar High School. After graduating from high school, Beckham attended Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts where she majored in social work.
She was active in many psychology organizations and received instruction from Florence Goodenough. On March 25, 1900. As a child, she enjoyed reading and aspired to be a librarian. In 1921, she received her bachelor"s degree and moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she began her work as a social worker
Shortly after, she went back to Simmons College and received her master"s degree in 1927.
Beckham received the Laura Spelman Rockefeller fellowship in 1929 and again in 1930. Beckham studied the development of triplets for her doctoral dissertation and concluded that triplets were less developed in general abilities compared to single children.
She received an internship at the Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research after receiving her doctorate and eventually began her own clinical psychology based private practice. During this time, Beckham also held the staff psychologist position at the Provident Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago.
Additionally, she held the position of a psychological consultant at Florida and Missouri schools of nursing while lecturing, working at psychology clinics and consulting for other organizations.
From 1964-1966, she worked at the McKinley Center for Retarded Children as a psychologist. Afterwards, she worked at Worthington and Hurst Psychological Consultants as a staff psychologist until 1968. After that, she held became a psychologist for the Chicago Board of Health until 1972.
