Drapetomania

Drapetomania was a psychiatric diagnosis invented in 1851 by Louisiana physician Samuel A. Cartwright to explain the curious tendency of black slaves to flee captivity. As such, it is an important historical example of Scientific racism. The term derives from Greek drapeto (to flee) + mania (obsession or madness).

In a paper published in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, Dr. Cartwright argued that the tendency of slaves to run away from their captors was in fact a treatable medical disorder, and that with "proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented." Cartwright proposed whipping as the most effective treatment of his invented disorder.

Cartwright invented another diagnosis, Dysaethesia Aethiopica, to explain the apparent lack of motivation exhibited by many slaves. This disease could also be cured by whipping.

Also See

• Scientific racism
• Dysaethesia Aethiopica
• White man's burden

External Links

• http://academic.udayton.edu/health/01status/mental01.htm
• http://www.sntp.net/ritalin/myth_3.htm

See also: Drapetomania, 1851, History of slavery in the United States, Psychiatry, Scientific racism, Sociology, White man's burden, Dysaethesia Aethiopica