Dr. Jallicia Jolly, Amherst College

Kingston-born and Brooklyn-bred, Dr. Jallicia Jolly is an Assistant Professor in American Studies and Black Studies at Amherst College. Dr. Jolly is invested in merging community-based research on Black women's health, grassroots activism, and political leadership with reproductive justice organizing and practice in the United States and the Caribbean.

As a 2022 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University, she is completing her first book manuscript, Ill Erotics: Black Caribbean Women and Self-Making in the Time of HIV/AIDS, under contract with the University of California Press. Ill Erotics tells the story of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the reproductive justice movement in Jamaica through the experiences of HIV-positive Jamaican women who live, love, and organize to save their own lives as they confront illness, reproductive violence, and inequality.

Dr. Jolly connects her research to tailored community interventions that advance racial equity, systemic change and community-building within and beyond U.S. borders. She works within racial justice and reproductive health equity organizations such as Women of Color Health Equity Coalition and MA Birth Equity & Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA), which is a reproductive justice coalition that aims to advance maternal health equity in policy and to improve the health outcomes of birthing people, particularly Black and Brown women. Dr. Jolly dedicates her work to improving the well-being of marginalized communities while elevating the organizing and interests of Black communities using human rights and reproductive justice frameworks.

A public scholar committed to research-informed action, Dr. Jolly has written for various media outlets such as The Washington Post/The Lily, USA Today, Ms. Magazine, Rewire News, and Huffington Post. Her work has been recognized and funded by the U.S. Student Fulbright Program, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Brown University's Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, the American Association of University Women, MIT, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
She leads with legacies of love and liberation while honoring her core intention:

"I am determined, with all my heart, to keep generating and supporting teaching, research, movements, and community-based work that will enhance our collective well-being and create new legacies beyond inequality and violence." - Jallicia Jolly