Robert Coles (born October 12, 1929) is an American author, child psychiatrist, and professor at Harvard University.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he attended Milton Academy and Harvard College, where he studied English literature. He originally intended to become a teacher or professor, but as part of his honors thesis, he interviewed the poet William Carlos Williams, who promptly persuaded him to go into medicine.
He studied medicine at Columb...
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Robert Coles (born October 12, 1929) is an American author, child psychiatrist, and professor at Harvard University.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he attended Milton Academy and Harvard College, where he studied English literature. He originally intended to become a teacher or professor, but as part of his honors thesis, he interviewed the poet William Carlos Williams, who promptly persuaded him to go into medicine.
He studied medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He graduated in 1954, and after residency training in Chicago, he was drafted into the U.S. Armed Forces, under the "doctors' draft".
He served at Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and made frequent trips into New Orleans. During these trips he witnessed scenes of racial conflict related to the desegregation of the public schools. He wrote a series of articles for The Atlantic Monthly, profiling Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black children to desegregate a public school in New...
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