Black Freedom and Religious Excitement: Inventing a Public Health Crisis

The 2025 Bruttell Endowment for Social Ethics presents

Dr. Judith Weisenfeld, Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Religion at Princeton University

Dr. Weisenfeld's talk will examine the rise of mental institutions as public institutions in the late 19th century and the increasing prominence of a racialized understanding of "religious excitement" as a public health crisis that served as justification for the institutionalization of the formerly enslaved and their descendants. The talk will also explore how African Americans found in religious practices the basis of resilience despite being pathologized.

This event is free an open to the public.

The talk will be held in the Exhibition Space of the Loranger School of Architecture Building.

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