Guest Lecture: Dr. Charlene Fletcher on "For Whose Protection?: Black Women & Confinement in the Late-19th Century"

Dr. Charlene Fletcher, an assistant professor of history at Butler University, will discuss Black women and confinement in the 19th century as a guest lecturer at Ball State University.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 3-4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, in Cardinal Hall A (219A) at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.

The event is part of Indiana Humanities’ “Advancing Racial Equity” Speakers Bureau. Ball State’s African American Studies program is hosting the event, which is co-sponsored by the English, History, and Criminal Justice and Criminology departments within the College of Sciences and Humanities.

“Dr. Fletcher’s research amplifies the voices of marginalized and oppressed groups in American history,” said Dr. Sharon Jones, chair of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and African American Studies and professor of English at Ball State. “We are very honored Dr. Fletcher is coming to speak at Ball State to our students, faculty, and staff, and to the greater community.”

Dr. Fletcher holds a Ph.D. in history from Indiana University and specializes in 19th-century United States and African American history and gender studies. Her work examines the lives of confined Black women in the 19th century and the confinement they experienced through slavery, incarceration, domestic life, and mental health institutions.