Between 1931 and 1943 a series of studies under the title “Psychogenetic Studies in Race Psychology” was published in The Psychoanalytic Review. The series was edited by Benjamin Karpman, the Head of Psychiatry at Howard University Medical School; the studies were written by his students at Howard. This article looks at Karpman's correspondence with Richard Wright, which reveals Karpman's aspiration to turn this series into a book project. While considering Karpman's professional commitments and positionality, it argues that by writing about “race psychology” in the context of social institutions, including the church, education, athletics, and marriage, Karpman and his students introduced new psychogenetic research that rejected the biological racism prevalent in previous race-centered studies.