First published 2024
Antonia Hylton reconstructs the 93-year history of Crownsville Hospital, Maryland's segregated asylum for Black patients. Her investigation begins in March 1911, when twelve Black men were marched into a forest and forced to build what would become the Hospital for the Negro Insane. Hylton combines archival research with personal stories from patients and staff who lived within Crownsville's walls. She weaves together her decade of investigative work with her own family's struggles with mental illness. The book traces how Crownsville grew from a work camp into a 1,500-acre institution housing nearly 2,700 patients at its peak. Hylton connects the hospital's practices to broader American battles over slavery, integration, and civil rights. She examines how the asylum's decline coincided with the rise of mass incarceration as society's response to mental illness. The book reveals how historical attitudes toward Black bodies and minds continue to shape modern mental healthcare systems.
Genres: mental-health, 20th-century, african-american, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, personal-story
Setting: Crownsville Hospital, Maryland
Period: 1911, 20th-century
368 pages · Hardcover · Legacy Lit
Content warnings: mental-illness