Bradford Pelletier

Bradford Pelletier’s research examines the struggle for medical civil rights during the twentieth century with a particular focus on the influence of Black activism upon the development of American psychiatric practice. His current project shows that with the long history of mental health inequity in the United States came a long history of mental health activism– led most especially by Black women– demanding that medical civil rights are human rights. He earned a PhD in history at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and an MA in European history and literature from Columbia University. Currently he is a Mellon Race, Place, and Equity Postdoctoral Research Associate in the History of Nursing and Healthcare at the University of Virginia. His research has appeared in the Journal of African American History and the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences.