Charlene Fletcher

Dr. Charlene Fletcher is the Frances Shera Fessler Assistant Professor of History at Butler University, where she is also affiliated with the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (RGSS) Program. Additionally, she serves as one of three faculty co-directors of the university's Hub on Black Affairs and Community Engagement. Dr. Fletcher holds a Ph.D. in History from Indiana University. 

Before her academic career, Charlene led a domestic violence and sexual assault program, as well as a significant prison reentry initiative in New York City, helping individuals transition from incarceration back to society. She also served as a lecturer in Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Her forthcoming book, Confined Femininity: Race, Gender, and Incarceration in Kentucky, 1865-1920, explores the experiences of African American women in confinement in Kentucky during the Reconstruction and Progressive Era. This work specifically highlights the lives of confined Black women by examining not only carceral settings but also mental health institutions and domestic spaces as sites of confinement. 

Charlene's latest research project is inspired by her grandmother's memories and adopts a transnational approach to race and confinement in the American South. Titled Catfish and Spaghetti: Social Relations between Italians and African Americans in the Mississippi Delta, 1880-1950, this project investigates Italian migration and experiences in the Mississippi Delta from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. It critiques the Italian padrone system as a form of confinement and examines the relationships between Italians and African Americans, who shared close proximity and similar experiences in the rural Jim Crow South. 

In addition to her research, Dr. Fletcher serves on the editorial boards of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society and the North Meridian Review. She is also an elected member of the National Council of Public History (NCPH) Board of Directors.