Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity.[1]: 41 [2] This hypothesis centered around the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape.[3][4]
Cartwright specifically cited the tendency of slaves to flee the plantations that held them. Since slaves happy with their condition would not want to leave, he inferred that such people had to be sick, impervious to the natural order of things. He published an article about black slaves' illnesses and idiosyncrasies in a widely circulated Southern journal[which?].[5] Contemporarily reprinted in the South, Cartwright's article was widely mocked and satirized in the northern United States. The concept has since been debunked as pseudoscience[6]: 2 and shown to be part of the edifice of scientific racism.[7]
The term derives from the Greek δραπέτης (drapetēs, "a runaway [slave]") and μανία (mania, "madness, frenzy").[8]
As late as 1914, the third edition of Thomas Lathrop Stedman's Practical Medical Dictionary included an entry for drapetomania, defined as "Vagabondage, dromomania; an uncontrollable or insane impulsion to wander."[9]
Cartwright described the disorder—which, he said, was "unknown to our medical authorities, although its diagnostic symptom, the absconding from service, is well known to our planters and overseers"[8]—in a paper delivered before the Medical Association of Louisiana[6]: 291 that was widely reprinted.
He stated that the malady was a consequence of masters who "made themselves too familiar with [slaves], treating them as equals".[10]
If treated kindly, well fed and clothed, with fuel enough to keep a small fire burning all night—separated into families, each family having its own house—not permitted to run about at night to visit their neighbors, to receive visits or use intoxicating liquors, and not overworked or exposed too much to the weather, they are very easily governed—more so than any other people in the world. If any one or more of them, at any time, are inclined to raise their heads to a level with their master or overseer, humanity and their own good requires that they should be punished until they fall into that submissive state which was intended for them to occupy. They have only to be kept in that state, and treated like children to prevent and cure them from running away.[11]
In Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race, Cartwright says that the Bible calls for a slave to be submissive to his master, and by doing so, the slave will have no desire to run away:[8]
If the white man attempts to oppose the Deity's will, by trying to make the negro anything else than "the submissive knee-bender" (which the Almighty declared he should be), by trying to raise him to a level with himself, or by putting himself on an equality with the negro; or if he abuses the power which God has given him over his fellow-man, by being cruel to him, or punishing him in anger, or by neglecting to protect him from the wanton abuses of his fellow-servants and all others, or by denying him the usual comforts and necessaries of life, the negro will run away; but if he keeps him in the position that we learn from the Scriptures he was intended to occupy, that is, the position of submission; and if his master or overseer be kind and gracious in his bearing towards him, without condescension, and at the same time ministers to his physical wants, and protects him from abuses, the negro is spell-bound, and cannot run away.
Prevention and remedyedit
In addition to identifying drapetomania, his feeling was that with "proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented".[8] In the case of slaves "sulky and dissatisfied without cause"—a warning sign of imminent flight—Cartwright mentioned "whipping the devil out of them" as a "preventative measure".[6]: 35 [12][13]
Contemporary criticismedit
While Cartwright's article was reprinted in the South,[dubious – discuss] in the northern United States it was widely mocked. A satirical analysis of the article appeared in a Buffalo Medical Journal editorial in 1855.[15] Renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, in A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), observed that white indentured servants had often been known to flee as well, so he satirically hypothesized that the supposed disease was actually of white European origin, and had been introduced to Africa by traders.[16]
The contemporary southern intelligentsia regarded Cartwright as a fringe figure.[14]
See alsoedit
Dysaesthesia aethiopica, another novel diagnosis of Cartwright's regarding what was seen as a mental illness that was the cause of laziness among slaves.
^Michael, Ruane (April 30, 2019). "A brief history of the enduring phony science that perpetuates white supremacy". Washington Post. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
^Pilgrim, David (November 1, 2005). "DRAPETOMANIA - NOVEMBER 2005". Ferris State University (Jim Crow Museum). from the original on 2020-08-10. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
^Hervé Guillemain, "Drapetomania" in Hervé Guillemain (ed.), DicoPolHiS, Le Mans Université, 2021.
^Stedman, Thomas Lathrop (1914). "drapetomania". Practical Medical Dictionary (3rd ed.). New York: W. Wood. p. 268. hdl:2027/ien.35558005332206. Also available from Internet Archive
^Baynton, Douglas C. "Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History". The New Disability History: American Perspectives, 2001.
^S. L. Chorover. From Genesis to Genocide (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press 1974). p. 150.
^Rick Halpern, Enrico Dal Lago (2002). Slavery and Emancipation. Blackwell Publishing. p. 273. ISBN0-631-21735-5.
^ ab Carmody, Todd (2018-10-16). "Review of Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780-1840 by Rana A. Hogart (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017)". Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. University of Toronto Libraries - UOTL. 4 (2): 1–6. doi:10.28968/cftt.v4i2.29596. ISSN 2380-3312.
^S. B. Hunt (1855). "Dr. Cartwright on "Drapetomania"". Buffalo Medical Journal. 10 (7): 438–442. PMC8676958. PMID 35375930.
^Frederick Law Olmsted (1856). A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, with Remarks on Their Economy. Mason Brothers. p. 226. ISBN9780678008133.
Sourcesedit
Samuel A. Cartwright, "Report on the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race", The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal 1851:691–715 (May).
Reprinted in DeBow's Review XI (1851). Available at Google Books and excerpted at PBS.org.
Reprinted in Arthur Caplan, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., and James McCartney, eds, Concepts of Health and Disease in Medicine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1980).
Reprinted in Arthur L. Caplan, James J. McCartney, Dominic A. Sisti, eds, Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2004) ISBN1-58901-014-0
External linksedit
Quotations related to Drapetomania at Wikiquote
An Early History – African American Mental Health
Findlay, James A. (2000). . Broward County, Florida, US: Broward County Library. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009.
Dimuro, Gina (4 April 2018). "Southerners Actually Thought Slaves Escaping Was A Sign Of Mental Illness". All That's Interesting.
DicoPolHiS
Bibliographyedit
Katherine Bankole, Slavery and Medicine: Enslavement and Medical Practices in Antebellum Louisiana, New York: Taylor and Francis Group, 1998.
Bob Myers, "Drapetomania": Rebellion, Defiance and Free Black Insanity in the Antebellum United States, phD thesis, 2014.
December 15, 2023
drapetomania, supposed, mental, illness, that, 1851, american, physician, samuel, cartwright, hypothesized, cause, enslaved, africans, fleeing, captivity, this, hypothesis, centered, around, belief, that, slavery, such, improvement, upon, lives, slaves, that, . Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness that in 1851 American physician Samuel A Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity 1 41 2 This hypothesis centered around the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape 3 4 Samuel A Cartwright 1793 1863 Cartwright specifically cited the tendency of slaves to flee the plantations that held them Since slaves happy with their condition would not want to leave he inferred that such people had to be sick impervious to the natural order of things He published an article about black slaves illnesses and idiosyncrasies in a widely circulated Southern journal which 5 Contemporarily reprinted in the South Cartwright s article was widely mocked and satirized in the northern United States The concept has since been debunked as pseudoscience 6 2 and shown to be part of the edifice of scientific racism 7 The term derives from the Greek drapeths drapetes a runaway slave and mania mania madness frenzy 8 As late as 1914 the third edition of Thomas Lathrop Stedman s Practical Medical Dictionary included an entry for drapetomania defined as Vagabondage dromomania an uncontrollable or insane impulsion to wander 9 Contents 1 Description 1 1 Prevention and remedy 1 2 Contemporary criticism 2 See also 3 References 4 Sources 5 External links 6 BibliographyDescription edit nbsp Engraving of an escaped slave published in 1837Cartwright described the disorder which he said was unknown to our medical authorities although its diagnostic symptom the absconding from service is well known to our planters and overseers 8 in a paper delivered before the Medical Association of Louisiana 6 291 that was widely reprinted He stated that the malady was a consequence of masters who made themselves too familiar with slaves treating them as equals 10 If treated kindly well fed and clothed with fuel enough to keep a small fire burning all night separated into families each family having its own house not permitted to run about at night to visit their neighbors to receive visits or use intoxicating liquors and not overworked or exposed too much to the weather they are very easily governed more so than any other people in the world If any one or more of them at any time are inclined to raise their heads to a level with their master or overseer humanity and their own good requires that they should be punished until they fall into that submissive state which was intended for them to occupy They have only to be kept in that state and treated like children to prevent and cure them from running away 11 In Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race Cartwright says that the Bible calls for a slave to be submissive to his master and by doing so the slave will have no desire to run away 8 If the white man attempts to oppose the Deity s will by trying to make the negro anything else than the submissive knee bender which the Almighty declared he should be by trying to raise him to a level with himself or by putting himself on an equality with the negro or if he abuses the power which God has given him over his fellow man by being cruel to him or punishing him in anger or by neglecting to protect him from the wanton abuses of his fellow servants and all others or by denying him the usual comforts and necessaries of life the negro will run away but if he keeps him in the position that we learn from the Scriptures he was intended to occupy that is the position of submission and if his master or overseer be kind and gracious in his bearing towards him without condescension and at the same time ministers to his physical wants and protects him from abuses the negro is spell bound and cannot run away Prevention and remedy edit In addition to identifying drapetomania his feeling was that with proper medical advice strictly followed this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented 8 In the case of slaves sulky and dissatisfied without cause a warning sign of imminent flight Cartwright mentioned whipping the devil out of them as a preventative measure 6 35 12 13 Contemporary criticism edit While Cartwright s article was reprinted in the South dubious discuss in the northern United States it was widely mocked A satirical analysis of the article appeared in a Buffalo Medical Journal editorial in 1855 15 Renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States 1856 observed that white indentured servants had often been known to flee as well so he satirically hypothesized that the supposed disease was actually of white European origin and had been introduced to Africa by traders 16 The contemporary southern intelligentsia regarded Cartwright as a fringe figure 14 See also editDysaesthesia aethiopica another novel diagnosis of Cartwright s regarding what was seen as a mental illness that was the cause of laziness among slaves The Protest Psychosis How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease Depression Dromomania Political abuse of psychiatry Fugitive slave Classification of mental disorders Sluggish schizophreniaReferences edit White Kevin 2002 An introduction to the sociology of health and illness SAGE Publishing pp 41 42 ISBN 0 7619 6400 2 Bynum Bill 2000 Discarded Diagnoses Drapetomania The Lancet Elsevier BV 356 9241 1615 doi 10 1016 s0140 6736 05 74468 8 eISSN 1474 547X ISSN 0140 6736 LCCN sf82002015 OCLC 01755507 PMID 11075805 S2CID 5440631 Michael Ruane April 30 2019 A brief history of the enduring phony science that perpetuates white supremacy Washington Post Retrieved January 21 2022 Pilgrim David November 1 2005 DRAPETOMANIA NOVEMBER 2005 Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum Archived from the original on 2020 08 10 Retrieved January 21 2022 Herve Guillemain Drapetomania in Herve Guillemain ed DicoPolHiS Le Mans Universite 2021 a b c Caplan Arthur McCartney James Sisti Dominic 2004 Health disease and illness concepts in medicine Georgetown University Press ISBN 1 58901 014 0 Pilgrim David November 2005 Question of the Month Drapetomania Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia Retrieved 11 January 2021 a b c d Cartwright Samuel A 1851 Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race DeBow s Review XI Retrieved 16 November 2011 Stedman Thomas Lathrop 1914 drapetomania Practical Medical Dictionary 3rd ed New York W Wood p 268 hdl 2027 ien 35558005332206 Also available from Internet Archive Baynton Douglas C Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History The New Disability History American Perspectives 2001 S L Chorover From Genesis to Genocide Cambridge Massachusetts MIT Press 1974 p 150 Paul Finkelman 1997 Slavery amp the Law Rowman amp Littlefield p 305 ISBN 0 7425 2119 2 Rick Halpern Enrico Dal Lago 2002 Slavery and Emancipation Blackwell Publishing p 273 ISBN 0 631 21735 5 a b Carmody Todd 2018 10 16 Review of Medicalizing Blackness Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World 1780 1840 by Rana A Hogart Durham NC Duke University Press 2017 Catalyst Feminism Theory Technoscience University of Toronto Libraries UOTL 4 2 1 6 doi 10 28968 cftt v4i2 29596 ISSN 2380 3312 S B Hunt 1855 Dr Cartwright on Drapetomania Buffalo Medical Journal 10 7 438 442 PMC 8676958 PMID 35375930 Frederick Law Olmsted 1856 A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States with Remarks on Their Economy Mason Brothers p 226 ISBN 9780678008133 Sources editSamuel A Cartwright Report on the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal 1851 691 715 May Reprinted in DeBow s Review XI 1851 Available at Google Books and excerpted at PBS org Reprinted in Arthur Caplan H Tristram Engelhardt Jr and James McCartney eds Concepts of Health and Disease in Medicine Interdisciplinary Perspectives Boston Addison Wesley 1980 Reprinted in Arthur L Caplan James J McCartney Dominic A Sisti eds Health Disease and Illness Concepts in Medicine Washington D C Georgetown University Press 2004 ISBN 1 58901 014 0External links edit nbsp Quotations related to Drapetomania at Wikiquote An Early History African American Mental Health Findlay James A 2000 DRAPETOMANIA A DISEASE CALLED FREEDOM An Exhibition of 18th 19th and Early 20th Century Material Culture of the African Experience in the Americas from the Collection of Derrick Joshua Beard Broward County Florida US Broward County Library Archived from the original on 15 February 2009 Dimuro Gina 4 April 2018 Southerners Actually Thought Slaves Escaping Was A Sign Of Mental Illness All That s Interesting DicoPolHiSBibliography editKatherine Bankole Slavery and Medicine Enslavement and Medical Practices in Antebellum Louisiana New York Taylor and Francis Group 1998 Bob Myers Drapetomania Rebellion Defiance and Free Black Insanity in the Antebellum United States phD thesis 2014 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Drapetomania amp oldid 1186991026, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
