DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/RRJX-NN19
Defense Date
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Sarah Hand Meacham
Second Advisor
Dr. John T. Kneebone
Third Advisor
Dr. King Davis
Abstract
In 1869 the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia passed legislation that established the first asylum in the United States to care exclusively for African-American patients. Then known as Central Lunatic Asylum for the Colored Insane and located in Richmond, Virginia, the asylum began to admit patients in 1870. This thesis explores three aspects of Central State Hospital's history during the nineteenth century: attitudes physicians held toward their patients, the involuntary commitment of patients, and life inside the asylum. Chapter One explores the nineteenth-century belief held by southern white physicians, including those at Central State Hospital, that freed people were mentally, emotionally, and physically unfit for freedom. Chapter Two explains the involuntary commitment of African Americans to Central State Hospital in 1874. Chapter Three considers patient life at the asylum by contrasting the expectation of “Moral Management” care with the reality of daily life and treatment.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-8-2015
Included in
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons