News & Events Archive
150th Anniversary Celebration: Dr. S. Hughes Melton History Symposium
October 22, 2020
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Dr. S. Hughes Melton was appointed by Governor Ralph Northam in 2018 to lead DBHDS and transform Virginia's system for people with behavioral health and developmental disability. Dr. Melton and his nearly 7,000 team members lead an agency that stewards $1.06 billion to operate fourteen state hospitals, collaborate with forty locally-run community services boards and licenses over 800 private providers. It is with honor that the staff of Central State Hospital host this mental health history symposium in the name of Dr. S. Hughes Melton.
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Speakers:​
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Dr. Earl Lewis - Director and Founder, Professor, Center for Social Solutions, University of Michigan
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Dr. Diane Miller Sommerville, Professor of History, Binghamton University, SUNY
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Dr. Mag Segrest, Professor Emeritus of Gender and Women Studies, Connecticut College; Past Fellow at the National Humanities Center
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Dr. Martin Summers, Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, Boston College
150th Anniversary Celebration: Unmarked Graves Ceremony
September 24, 2020
150th Anniversary Celebration:
Commemorative Ceremony
June 4, 2020
"Central State was the first hospital of its kind in Virginia dedicated to treating African Americans with mental illness until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The hospital was experienced a great deal of change in its long history... This 150 year milestone reminds us of the importance of knowing our roots, honoring those that came before us, recognizing tremendous progress, and celebrating a bight future." Daniel Carey, MD, Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services​