by Antonia Hylton, Legacy Lit
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Legacy Lit
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In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , a compelling 93-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums, told by an award-winning journalist on her decade-long search for sanity in America’s mental healthcare system. On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco.
When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state’s Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports listeners behind the brick walls of a Jim Crow asylum.
In Madness , Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity.
Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations. As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. During its peak years, the hospital’s wards were overflowing with almost 2,700 patients.
By the end of the 20th-century, the asylum faded from view as prisons and jails became America’s new focus. In Madness, Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.
Set against the backdrop of a segregated America, this gripping narrative delves into the haunting reality of race and mental illness in a Jim Crow asylum. With meticulous research and an emotive narrative, this book unveils the harrowing experiences of those who were marginalized and silenced. The author paints an unflinching portrait of institutional racism and insanity, revealing a chapter of history that exposes the deep-seated prejudices that permeated the healthcare system.
The book unveils the cruel intersection of race and mental illness during the Jim Crow era. Dives deep into systemic racism within mental healthcare institutions highlighting historical truths. Offers an emotional and meticulously researched insight into these marginalized voices.
In a time when racism was entrenched in both society and institutions the intricacies of mental health care remained a marginalized issue. Americans of color facing psychological distress were often relegated to asylums steeped in discriminatory practices. This narrative unravels the tragic truths faced by those who had no voice exploring the layers of systemic prejudice.
\nThrough patient stories and historical documents the book sheds light on the horrific conditions inside Jim Crow asylums. It reveals how race defined patient treatment and diagnosis contributing to the cycle of institutionalized racism and neglect. Personal accounts blend with rigorous archival research to present a chilling portrait of societal injustices.
\nBy focusing on individual experiences within these cruel institutions the book highlights the humanity and resilience of those who suffered. While confronting a painful past it also invites reflection on the progress needed to address these lingering inequalities. A call for recognition and reparation resonates throughout the narrative.
\nThe author carefully illustrates how these injustices have echoes in contemporary mental health discourse. Through poignant storytelling and critical analysis readers are prompted to examine how these historic prejudices persist today urging action and empathy for those still affected by systemic failures.
The narrative combines gripping storytelling with historical accuracy bringing to life the voices long silenced by oppressive systems In doing so it demands a reconsideration of traditional narratives This book is groundbreaking in its focus on an overlooked aspect of American history It offers readers a unique lens on the intersectionality of race health and justice fueling informed discourse Its blend of personal accounts with academic rigor presents a compelling engaging and enlightening reading experience By intertwining empathy and scholarship it educates and inspires a call to action.
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Based on 392 ratings
came on time, well packaged, in good condition
I've slowly made my way through this very unique story at night, when I only read a few pages before I drift off. The book is excellent, though I had difficulty at first with what I thought were awkwardly constructed sentences. I've conquered that small criticism, and I'll be keeping this volume on my shelf as one of my own personal reference books. The research and documentation of human rights' violations that centered around the Crownsville hospital is staggering! I highly recommend this work to any reader who is interested in Black history.
Antonia Hylton tackles a chapter of American history which one could argue remains as present in many forms as today though maybe less overt. As a psychiatrist raised near an “asylum” that I suspect had many parallels to Crownville and likely allowed unconsented lobotomies on black patients when Freeman was driving his van around the state. The abhorrent treatment of black patients dealing with mental illness as painful as it is to read about is important history and anyone engaged in treating patients should not look away. Racism in psychiatry and medicine still exists and we must continue to evaluate and examine how this continues. As a field we have a far way to go - actionable things that need to happen now - education about our history to which I think this book makes a major contribution and the recruitment of black individuals to medical school and psychiatric residency. This book is a must read for anyone in the field
Great quality and excellently written book
So glad I read this book. I never knew the background story of this asylum. Just so sad and horrendous. Thank you to the author for bringing light to this story and remembering those who had the misfortune of being there.
Fascinating, thoroughly researched and clearly presented. However, I'm curious why Ms Hylton capitalized her references "Black", but not "white".
I'm not that far into the book, however, I LOVE it! It's a must-read for anyone in the medical field, anyone who wants to learn more about history or mental illness - anyone in general! I love the way journalist Antonia Hylton shares her loved one's struggle with mental illness and the way she writes. I only did high-school journalism, so never considered the points she made about using journalism as more than being responsible for writing the first draft of history, but using it to point out gaps and inaccuracies in history, and challenging the status quo by literally "complicating" history, itself. While no one "likes" a complicated history that deviates from the truth, Hylton writes the truth! There is no area in American History that needs this sort of reporting more than Black American's and their struggles with mental illness and the mental health care system. Though I'm not Black, I could relate to MANY elements of her loved one's story. I have learned so much about the ways the medical field has mistreated Black Americans historically, what they endured from the days of slavery, and even NOW. We need more well-written books like this. Thank you, Ms. Hylton, for writing this powerful book!
Antonia Hylton does a masterful job investigating and sharing the history of Crownsville State Hospital in Maryland, and its history as the asylum for the Negro Insane. The story blends the history of how the mentally ill were treated in America over the last century with many examples of how the segregated system theat existed was not only separate, but also unequal. She unflinchingly explains the background of the treatment approaches that led to the establishment of Crownsville - where the approach of 'industrial therapy' was behind the creation of a facility where work was viewed as curative. What is both impressive and moving is the former employees of the facility who learned of her efforts and joined with her to share their memories and access records so that these stories could be told. It is clear that the connections between the author and the former employees are warm and genuine. The author also shares some personal background of how her family has been impacted by mental illness.