In the justification of slavery, slave masters and holders went to great lengths to deny the humanity of slaves. The Bible’s story of Ham surfaces regularly to ration mean dark skin and slavery and mistakenly or purposely that the Curse of Ham had anything to do with either. Further exegesis about the meaning about the curse of Ham is another discussion. However, the use of the Bible as reason and justification of slavery in the United States is considerable.
The dehumanization of blacks in the United States is nothing new. In fact, it has historic roots from so-called respected sources, such as the disease in the heading. Even without the Bible, white Americans found numerous ways to dehumanize slaves. Two of those ways resorted to pseudoscience by a respected MD and a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was also considered as the “Father of Psychiatry” in the United States. Prominent among theories surrounding slave mental disorders was Samuel A. Cartwright.
Cartwright diagnosed a disorder known as drapetomania. Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness described by Cartwright in 1851 that caused black slaves to flee captivity.[1] Today, it is considered as an example of pseudoscience[2]and part of the edifice of scientific racism.[3]The term derives from the Greek δραπετης (drapetes, "a runaway [slave]") + μανια (mania, "madness, frenzy").[4]
Cartwright described the disorder—which, he said, was "unknown to our medical authorities, although its diagnostic symptom, the absconding from service, is well known to our planters and overseers"[5]—in a paper delivered before the Medical Association of Louisiana[6] that was widely reprinted. He stated that the malady was a consequence of masters who "made themselves too familiar with [slaves], treating them as equals."[7] In Diseases and “Pecularities of the Negro Race,” Cartwright writes that the Bible calls for a slave to be submissive to his master, and by doing so, the slave will have no desire to run away.[8]
“If the white man attempts to oppose the Deity's will, by trying to make the negro anything else than "the submissive knee-bender" (which the Almighty declared he should be), by trying to raise him to a level with himself, or by putting himself on an equality with the negro; or if he abuses the power which God has given him over his fellow-man, by being cruel to him, or punishing him in anger, or by neglecting to protect him from the wanton abuses of his fellow-servants and all others, or by denying him the usual comforts and necessaries of life, the negro will run away; but if he keeps him in the position that we learn from the Scriptures he was intended to occupy, that is, the position of submission; and if his master or overseer be kind and gracious in his hearing towards him, without condescension, and at the same time ministers to his physical wants, and protects him from abuses, the negro is spell-bound, and cannot run away.”[9]
In his overriding concerns about slavery and diagnosis, Cartwright also invented another disease called, dysaesthesia aethiopica. The disease, also known as “rascality” among Southern slave owners exhibited itself in “slow or lethargic” behaviors among slaves, which be cured by a applying a good beating. In Cartwright’s idiotic pseudoscience the “disease” was most observable in free slaves living by themselves, a diagnosis that is hardly surprising.
Curiously, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Dean of the Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania and the "Father of American Psychiatry, Benjamin Rush, MD (17461813), "described Negroes as “suffering from an affliction called Negritude,” which was thought to be a mild form of leprosy. The only cure for the disorder was to become white! However, Dr Rush's observation, observation might be more accurate, but hardly a disease. Instead, at that time nowhere was it ever considered that the transition of living free to be cast into slavery was a transition that did not sit well upon the shoulders of former free men..[10]
Cartwright, provides just one of many excuses of how slave masters used the Bible to deny the obvious humanity of slaves. It has always been a particular point of confusion that African Americans are by far the most religious group in the United States. Even though Christian beliefs sinking to a record low of 74 percent, African American belief and church attendance has hovered at or close to 91% since ratings started. A strange dichotomy considering how the Bible was used to keep black ancestors in captivity.
In addition to identifying drapetomania, Cartwright prescribed a remedy. His feeling was that with "proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented."[11] In the case of slaves, ". . .sulky and dissatisfied without cause," was an indicator or “. . . a warning sign of imminent flight.´ To prevent incidence of drapetomania, Cartwright prescribed "whipping the devil out of them" as a "preventative measure."[12], [13] ,[14]
Although many Bible verses came about in relation to surviving the oppression of the crumbling Roman Empire, the tenets provided ample room for interpretation justifying slavery. The particular verses, come from a number of verses in the Bible. For instance, this particular verse coming from Colossians 3:22 is just one of many slaveholders used to rationalize ownership of human beings. “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. “
That is just one of many reasons used by American slave owners as justification to enslave Africans. The entire premise operated on two levels. First, the Bible presents more than ample room for interpretation of ancient texts allowing slave owners justify taking slaves, including a manual outlining treatment of slaves. Secondly, not only was the Bible used for physically owning slaves, it provided blue print for making slaves dependent upon religion for a means of escape into the supernatural freedom of the hereafter where they would receive their reward.
[1] Kevin White (2002). An Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness. Sage Publications. p. 41. ISBN 0761964002. http://books.google.com/books?id=5bHxQBNWGHMC&pg=PA41&sig=inUJXRr5_kxRNnvEQ7rrz67wKmg
[2] Arthur L. Caplan, James J. McCartney, and Dominic A. Sisti (2004). Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. p. 2. ISBN 1589010140.
[3] Pilgrim, David (November 2005). "Question of the Month: Drapetomania". Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/nov05.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-04
[4] Cartwright, Samuel A. (1851). "Report on the Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race". DeBow's Review XI. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106t.html. Retrieved on 4 October 2007.
[5] Ibid
[6]Caplan et al, p. 291.
[7] Baynton, Douglas C. "Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History". The New Disability History: American Perspectives, 2001.
[8] Cartwright, Samuel A. Diseases and Pecularities of the Negro Race. 1851.
[9] Cartwright, Samuel A. (1851). "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race".DeBow's Review XI. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
[10] Vanessa Jackson, An Early History - African American Mental Health
[11] Cartwright, Samuel A. (1851). "Report on the Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race". DeBow's Review XI. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106t.html. Retrieved on 4 October 2007.
[12] Caplan et al, p. 35.
[13] Paul Finkelman (1997). Slavery & the Law. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 305. ISBN 0742521192. http://books.google.com/books?id=1YI0DvuukxkC&pg=PA305&sig=U1-5etwEyyiR5t4-HcLsM2gGWIE
[14]Rick Halpern, Enrico Dal Lago (2002). Slavery and Emancipation. Blackwell Publishing. p. 273. ISBN 0631217355. http://books.google.combooks?id=svaQthjrcf0C&pg=RA1-PA273&sig=BuyUaEXNumrkqdvdpvtSh0P4CyU.
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