Mental Health, Racism, and Contemporary Challenges of Being Black in America

Collected in a single volume for the first time, the writings in this novel anthology represent more than four decades of perspectives from the American Psychiatric Association's Solomon Carter Fuller Award lectures, named for the first Black psychiatrist in the United States. The chapter authors—Solomon Carter Fuller awardees themselves, psychiatrists building on the work of previous awardees, and other scholar experts—offer a multidisciplinary, cross-sectional examination of both the historical and contemporary environments that inform the Black experience in the United States.

These treatises look at the intersection of mental health with topics that include the following:

• Public health and public policy

• Health care inequities

• Racism

• Economic well-being

• Media

• Education

Emphasizing the real challenges that Black communities have faced and continue to face, each chapter also offers reasons for perseverance in the face of adversity. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the complexity of the Black experience in America and its impact on mental health, as well as a greater awareness of and appreciation for the legacy and ongoing contributions of Black psychiatric leaders to the field.

Donna M. Norris, M.D., is Assistant Professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Annelle B. Primm, M.D., M.P.H., is Senior Medical Director for The Steve Fund and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Maryland.