Sadie Peterson Delaney: Reading for Health and Healing

In this episode I discuss Dr. Sadie Peterson Delaney (1899-1958), a librarian who got her start during the Harlem Renaissance at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, now known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. It was at the NYPL that she first began using the therapeutic process of bibliotherapy. Simply defined, bibliotherapy uses reading to promote health, healing and well being. After 3 years, she took a job in Tuskegee, Alabama at the Tuskegee Veteran’s Administration Hospital where she applied and expanded bibliotherapy for more than thirty years. Over her long career, Dr. Delaney worked with veterans, wrote about her methods, and became internationally known. For more information and resources, visit www.blackherstory101.com