Intersectionality, Race, Institutionalization, and Special Education
The intersectionality of race and mental health has ties to some of the earliest institutions in the United States. The foundations of mental health treatment for Black Americans have impacted the treatment of Black people today in terms of disability labels and segregation in schools. Before slavery was abolished, it was rare for an enslaved person to receive any mental health services. After Black Americans were emancipated and afforded opportunities for access to more services, they then faced the ripples of institutionalized racism, including the overrepresentation of Black children in special education, particularly in the disability category of emotional disturbance and in segregated, self-contained special classes.Throughout our history the perception of race and the interpretation of mental illness has changed to fit the needs of the dominant culture in our society.
The Impact of Emancipation on Asylums
Access to asylums for formerly enslaved Black Americans during the southern Reconstruction era (1865-1877) did not mean access to quality care. Early opportunities for “treatment” were often given under the guise of a cure for the mind when, instead, institutionalization was used to satisfy the demand for unpaid laborers at the end of the Civil War. According to Burroughs (2002), “The primary treatment for African American patients was hard physical labor within the asylums. It was common for the patients to have jobs during this era, but the Black patients would hold the more strenuous and physical employment.” (p. 6). The use of hard labor for Black patients provided both free labor for asylums and upheld racist beliefs that physical labor would cure Black Americans of the illness caused by their newfound freedoms. Committing Black Americans to institutions after emancipation was also used as a mechanism for continued oppression and as punishment for “defying the demands of white people” (Robertson, 2020, p. 10). This gave way to inferior quality of care for Black Americans.
Letter from Dr. Bob Rollins to Dr. Thomas Szasc about Isaac
In 1972, Dr. Thomas Szasz received a letter from Dr. Bob Rollins, the Superintendent of the Dorothea Dix Hospital. Rollins shared a copy of a letter written to the hospital on April 18, 1865 (nine days after the end of the Civil War). In this letter, Union Colonel Millard Nasser ordered the hospital to accept Isaac, the “servant of Wm Holleman.” Isaac was the first Black person admitted to Dorothea Dix Hospital in North Carolina. The reason for Isaac’s admittance to the hospital was due to “the war,” and he was said to have mania. He was confined to the hospital for a month, before being released as “cured” on May 17, 1965. In the letter Mr. Rollins suggests the ending of the war as a possible reason for the request. Why was the ending of the war a reason to send Isaac to the Dorothea Dix Hospital? We do not know much about Isaac; there is not a lot of data or research on the explicit nature of freed enslaved Black people being sent to institutions. There may not be one specific reason for a lack of data on this topic. However, one idea may be that the normalcy placed on these practices in the South caused a lack of concern for tracking these practices.
Implications for Education
These early representations of Black bodies in the landscape of mental illness had consequences that extended through generations in both disability and education. Racial stereotypes, prejudice, and institutional racism are at the center of how Black people are treated in the spheres of mental health, “Dis”ability, and schooling.
“The Standardization of Intelligence Tests on Southern Negro Children”
In 1962, Frank Garfunkel and Burton Blatt published an article, “The Standardization of Intelligence Tests on Southern Negro Children” in the Training School Bulletin. In this article, Garfunkel and Blatt argued that standardized tests used to determine intelligence do not consider the cultural intricacies of sub-groups. Therefore, certain tests cannot be a single measure of intelligence or presume future success for Black students. Garfunkel and Blatt (1963) stated:
Because a test is valid for one group does not mean that it will be valid for other groups, no matter how carefully norms are established and no matter how reliable the test is reputed to be … The misconception is the assertion that the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test (or any other intelligence test) is necessarily a valid measure of the intelligence of children from lower social classes and, in particular, of Southern Negro Children (p. 95).
Garfunkel and Blatt ask us to analyze how we assess students from culturally diverse backgrounds using standardized tests like the Stanford-Binet. Without examining the intersection of experience and culture, Black children may be subject to a norming of intelligence just as they were subjected to a norming of civility based on racist stereotypes and structures.
Dr. John L Johnson Letter “An Open Letter to the Faculty of the School of Education”
Expanding the lens on the impact of racism on special education, on September 18, 1968, professor John L. Johnson from Syracuse University called out the School of Education for upholding racist practices. His presence at Syracuse University was critical in confronting institutional racism in the University and the greater community and working for civil rights. He helped establish the African American Studies Department at Syracuse University and participated in the investigation of the Syracuse 8. Dr. Johnson was vocal and was not afraid to speak his mind. In his letter to the School of Education, he said:
When our specialized programs for teaching Black, disadvantaged children participate in a pathological alliance with social institutions who have for hundreds of years been the cause of second-class status for Black people, then we need to look carefully at the racism which permits this state of affairs and is nourished with the prestige of our Faculty. Yes, colleagues, racism exists in our Faculty and in our programs and you contribute to its existence by your silence and apathy (1968).
Letter To Mr. David Jaquith from Dr. John Johnson, March 11, 1968
As the only Black professor in the School of Education, Dr. Johnson was outspoken on issues of racism in the university and the city of Syracuse. He was dedicated to improving both teacher preparation and the condition of Black students with special education labels. In a correspondence with David Jaquith the President of the Board of Education of Syracuse, in response to a newspaper article in which Jacquith was quoted expressing concern that principals were unprepared to respond to issues of urban schools and that a possible solution might be more special classes, he said, “I can tell you that the expansion of special classes is not the answer. They are economically and psychologically unfeasible and serve to only stigmatize and put off the problem.” Dr. Johnson knew that taking students labeled with disabilities and segregating them into special classes was not the most effective way to provide the quality education that students in urban settings like Syracuse deserve. His contributions and perspective on the Black experience and education are significant, and it is crucial to uplift the voice of a member of the Black community when discussing the Black experience.
Letter To Mr. David Jaquith from Dr. John Johnson, July 11, 1968
On July 11, 1968, Dr. Johnson wrote another letter to David Jaquith to express his concern that the Syracuse Board of Education planned to establish special classes for so-called disturbing or disruptive students. He stated that special classes usually served as dumping grounds, particularly to contain minoritized students. He also points to the lack of trained teachers to staff the special programs and the cost effectiveness of placement in general education classrooms. Dr. Johnson was a fierce advocate for Black children in urban schools, and in particular those children labeled with emotional disturbance.
Centering Marginalized Voices
When discussing the treatment of marginalized groups, it is important to center their voices when telling their story. However, it was difficult to find first-hand accounts or records in the Special Collections that highlight the experience of Black Americans in asylums, institutions, and special education classrooms. Dr. Johnson’s advocacy for his community is revealed through his words and actions on Syracuse University’s campus and beyond. The fight for civil rights and the fight for disability rights are intertwined, especially when Black and Brown children are labeled as disabled at disproportionately higher rates compared with their white peers.
Photographs from Christmas in Purgatory
The pictures in Burton Blatt’s photographic essay, Christmas in Purgatory (Blatt & Kaplan, 1974) speak for us. Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan helped expose the mistreatment and abuse of people in institutions like Willowbrook. Blatt stated, “although our pictures cannot even begin to capture the total and overwhelming horror we saw, smelled, and felt, they represent a side of America that has rarely, if ever, been shown to the general public” (Blatt, n.d, pp. 1-2). Blatt and Kaplan capture images of Black children in institutions, such as a boy against a wall, an unknown Black girl with other inmates, unknown children, and two children playing jacks, one of whom was Black. So, although there may be a lack of primary sources from Black and Brown bodies in institutions, Blatt’s work allowed the world access to parts of their stories.
References
Blatt, B., & Kaplan, F. (1974). Christmas in purgatory: A photographic essay on mental retardation. Human Policy Press.
Burroughs, A. (2022). Black market: An exploration of Black mental ealth in America.” Psychology from the Margins, 4(1), Article 1. https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=psychologyfromthemargins
Robertson, V. E. (2020). Black sanity: Understanding mental health diagnoses post emancipation. The Macksey Journal, 1(1), Article 100. https://mackseyjournal.scholasticahq.com/article/21738-black-sanity-understanding-mental-health-diagnoses-post-emancipation