Summary

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton explores the historical Crownsville Hospital, a segregated asylum in Maryland. The book examines the treatment of Black patients in psychiatric institutions, highlighting systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Hylton explores how racial prejudices influenced diagnoses, treatments, and the overall experience of Black patients in asylums. In addition to retelling the stories of Crownsville, Hylton deals with mental illness in her family and what drives her to research race and mental illness.

Thoughts

Wow. What a page-turner! I’d never heard of Crownsville Hospital before picking up this book. Now, I feel everyone needs to know the hospital’s history and the treatment of Black citizens and patients in Maryland. It’s an eye-opening journey. 

Growing up in Canada, we weren’t taught about racism towards Black Americans in great detail; it was something we read about in a book for English class and touched on briefly. By the end of this book, it left me speechless. It’s heartbreaking to read. Some chapters were on my mind for several days, and I had trouble digesting it. I thought I knew violence towards a race, but this book gave gruelling details that left me shocked for days. I can’t understand how anyone could incite such violence and believe it to be the rightful act. That they were entitled to act this way. 

Hylton does a great job researching the history and future of Crownsville. She’s able to retell the stories of Crownsville and some of its patients and workers in a clear, concise, and raw way. Hylton also provides great detail about what Maryland was like in the early 1900s, allowing readers to get a broader picture of the political landscape and its influence. Furthermore, Hylton intertwines her research with her own experience with mental illness as she deals with a family member and their mental illness. The book teaches us how actions from the 19th and early 20th centuries can influence an entire race and their belief in the medical system. I found the book to have a great balance of history, journalism, and the personal touch to why Hylton dove deep into Crownsville.

“What does it mean to be healthy and well enough to clear the woods, build a road, and construct a hospital, yet also be so sick you require institutionalization? How do we decide who’s irredeemable and who’s capable of recovery? What role have men like Robert Winterode played in alienating Black patients from therapy and care?”

Antonia Hylton, Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

Rating & Recommendation

I rate this book a 5 out of 5. This book may be uncomfortable and difficult for some, but regardless, I think it’s worth being vulnerable and uncomfortable for us to reconcile with the past. Crownsville is a piece of history that should not be forgotten because it teaches us how systemic racism and discriminatory practices can greatly harm patients, sick or not, and everyone around them. 

Check out Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum on Goodreads or Amazon Canada.