Excerpts from my research for THE HOUSE OF THE NEGRO INSANE at the Library of Virginia archives (Richmond, VA), July 2017:
Records from The Central State Hospital (the first institution in the country for “colored persons of unsound mind”).
Commitment papers of Isham Motley, 1874
Q: What is the party’s age and where from?
A: Born in Pittsylvania County and aged 17 years
Q: How long since indications of insanity appeared?
A: About three weeks since
Q: What are they?
A: A general derangement
Q: Is his derangement envinced on one or several subjects, what are they?
A: Several subjects especially religion
Q: Whether any and what restraint has been imposed on him?
A: Been kept tied all the time
Deposition of Matilda Payne, 1876
… she is evidently of unsound mind, will not work, has no visible means of support has no profession and she takes offense whenever anyone offers employment, she is constantly rambling over the neighborhood, which she is not disposed to be [turbulent?] yet she will become offended and a little boisterous at times, when approached by some and asked to work for a living. I have known her for 3 years, she has been insane all this time.
Lucy E. Smith, 1906
Q: Value of self or husband; of parents, if patient is a minor?
A: None
Q: State fully the symptoms of insanity
A: Excitable, noisy and hard to control
Q: What, in the opinion of the examining physicians, are the exciting and predisposing causes of the patients insanity?
A: Physical and mental overwork. (work in laundry during the day and study at night)
Q: What treatment has been given, and with what effect?
A: Tonics and sedatives