Carlton B. Goodlett was born July 23, 1914, in Chipley, Florida and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He received his B.S. from Howard University in 1935; his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California three years later, at the age of 23; and his M.D. from Meharry Medical College in 1944. Be opened his medical office in San Francisco and soon became deeply involved in a wide variety of community affairs, especially in the civil rights and peace movements and in politics. He served as president of the San Francisco branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1947-1949; was a member of the American Society of African Culture and of the National Committee on Africa; was vice-chairman of the North California Committee on Africa; was a participant in the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa, 1962 and 1964; and was chairman of the California Negro Leadership Conference. He also is president of the San Francisco Foundation to Study Our Schools. Areas of civil rights activity include housing employment, and discrimination in the courts.
An internationally-active peace advocate, Dr. Goodlett served as chairman of the Committee for International Peace Action. He was a supporter of the World Council of Peace and attended peace meetings and conferences in Moscow (1959?, 1962, and 1964), Stockholm (1963), Warsaw (1963), Budapest (1964), East Berlin (1964), Argentina (1964), Nagasaki (1964), Brussels (1965), and Helsinki (1965). In 1966, he ran unsuccessfully in the California gubernatorial primary as a Democratic peace candidate.
After beginning medical practice in San Francisco, Goodlett in 1949 expanded his area of activity by becoming publisher of the Sun-Reporter, a weekly newspaper aimed at the San Francisco Negro community. He subsequently became a director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Carlton Goodlett was married to Willette Hill in 1942. They are parents of one son.
