Judith Weisenfeld

Princeton professor Judith Weisenfeld exposes ways in which white Southern physicians’ prejudices regarding African American religious practices in the years following Emancipation fueled the rise of theories about race-based susceptibility to mental illness. Echoes of these theories persist today and are evident in discussions about why Blacks disproportionately get sick and die from COVID-19.

Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications