From far more different angles: institutions for the mentally retarded in the South, 1900-1940

489 Pages·1991·13.4 MB·English

by  Noll, Steven

"FROM FAR MORE DIFFERENT ANGLES":
INSTITUTIONS FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED
IN THE SOUTH, 1900-1940
By
STEVEN NOLL
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
1991
To Dorothy and Fred Noll, and Tillie Braun.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the five years this work has consumed my life, I
have accumulated more debts than I care to imagine- I can
never repay them; all I can do is acknowledge them with
heartfelt thanks and hope I haven't left anyone out. The
financial help provided by the University of Florida
Department of History was essential, for without it, this
project could not have even been started, much less
completed. I would also like to thank the Rockefeller
Archive Center, Pocantico Hills, New York and the North
Caroliniana Society of Chapel Hill, North Carolina for their
travel to collection grants which enabled me to conduct much
of my research.
My supervising committee has provided me with guidance,
support, and help at every step of the process. Special
thanks to Kermit Hall, my chairman, for his faith in my
abilities and his knack for discovering the truly meaningful
in my work. He always found time for my harried questions,
even in the middle of an incredibly busy schedule. The
other committee members, Robert Hatch, Michael Radelet,
Bertram Wyatt-Brown, and Robert Zieger, all provided
valuable intellectual advice and guidance. Michael Radelet
also proved that good teaching, good research, and social
111
activism are not mutually exclusive variables. My
colleagues at the University of Florida, Jeff Adler, David
Chalmers, Tom Gallant, Susan Kent, Chris Morris, and Samuel
Proctor, gave me valuable help, some of it unsolicited, much
of it unheeded, all of it appreciated.
Through the writing of this dissertation I have
discovered the meaning of the community of scholars. Many
individuals with little stake in my work have taken the time
to read it and offer encouragement and suggestions. Thanks
to Cheryll Cody, Ellen Dwyer, Gerald Grob, John Hughes,
Michael Sokal, Nicole Rafter, and Todd Savitt for their
efforts.
Researching can be a difficult and lonely process. The
help of archivists, librarians, and staff people made my
life significantly easier. The librarians at the University
of Florida, particularly Gary Cornwell in Government
Documents, Lenny Rhine at the Health Center Library, and the
staff of the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, saved
me literally thousands of steps in running around campus.
The staffs at the National Library of Medicine, University
of Florida Health Center Library Annex in Jacksonville, the
Rockefeller Archive Center, the Florida State Archives, the
Georgia State Archives, the North Carolina State Archives,
the South Carolina State Archives and Library, the Virginia
State Archives and Library, the Jones Memorial Library in
Lynchburg, Virginia, the South Caroliniana Collection and
the medical library of the University of South Carolina, the
Southern Historical Collection and the North Carolina
Collection at the Wilson Library, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the Alderman Library of the
University of Virginia all provided advice and comfort to a
weary, and often grouchy, researcher. Special thanks to
Mary Barnes and Gene Williams of the Old Records Center of
the North Carolina State Archives and Conley Edwards of the
Virginia State Archives for their personal attention. I
would also like to thank Reed and Angie Bohne, Reggie Clark,
Tom and Alison Duncan, Sue Lang, Don and Lane Neisen, Miriam
Reiser, and Al and Betsy Sharrett for opening their homes
and their refrigerators and providing a touch of home while
I was on the road.
For this work, much research had to be conducted in
non-research facilities, on the grounds of functioning
institutions for mentally handicapped individuals. This
could not have been possible without the help of staff who
opened their archives and files to me. Special thanks to
superintendent Max Jackson and his secretary, Agnes
Stanford, of the Tacachale Community (formerly Sunland
Center) in Gainesville, Florida for their encouragement of
my work and their help in allowing me access to the vault
files there. Similarly, the director of Caswell Center, Jim
Woodall, and his assistants, Joanne Richiutti and Becky
Brown, showed me the meaning of Southern hospitality on my
two trips to Kinston, North Carolina. Thanks also to Helen
Hester, staff librarian at the Central Virginia Training
Center, Lynchburg, Virginia, and the staff at Whitten
Center, Clinton, South Carolina.
Other debts incurred in the writing of this
dissertation have little to do with the actual production of
it. Perhaps they are more important, however. Words can
not express the sincere appreciation of the help supplied by
Jane Landers and Rosemarijn Hofte. Their support, both
intellectual and emotional, has been incalculable. Their
friendship helped me handle the rough times. Their
historical work also stands as an example of the kind of
work I aspire to. The students, staff, faculty, and
administration of Sidney Lanier School have helped pull me
through the doldrums of a dissertation that never seemed to
end. They continue to show me that my work has relevance
and importance today. Lenny, Helene, Moe, and Jamie Rhine
have once again made me see what was truly important in my
life. Thanks also to Abner Doubleday and James Naismith,
without whose games this dissertation would never have been
finished, or would have been finished long ago.
Finally to my family, my thanks are incalculable. To
my parents, Dorothy and Fred Noll, your support of my
intellectual endeavors, your pride in my meager
accomplishments, and your amazing courage in the face of
adversity have given me strength and hope. That neither of
you lived to see the completion of this project does not
diminish your involvement, only saddens me that you could
not share my sense of fulfillment in finishing. To my wife
vi
Beverly, my son Jody, and my daughter Amanda, you have given
me financial and emotional support, laughter, love,
friendship, broken arms, and dirty diapers. Without your
help, this work would never have been finished. Maybe now I
can become a better husband and father. Finally, to Joel
Jaskolski, you may not be able to read this but you know
why.
VII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES X
LIST OF FIGURES xi
ABSTRACT xii
I INTRODUCTION 1
Problems of Definition 5
Abbreviations 18
Notes to Chapter 1 20
II CARE AND CONTROL: THE AMBIVALENT
PROGRESSIVE LEGACY 28
Notes to Chapter II 58
III MENTAL RETARDATION 1900-1940:
INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND
STERILIZATION 75
Notes to Chapter III 113
IV FROM NEGLECT TO CONTROL:
THE OPENING OF INSTITUTIONS
IN THE SOUTH 133
Notes to Chapter IV 162
V INTERNAL DYNAMICS: DEMOGRAPHICS,
MENTAL LEVELS AND STAFFING IN
SOUTHERN INSTITUTIONS 172
Notes to Chapter V 219
VI THE FUNCTIONS OF SOUTHERN
INSTITUTIONS 231
Notes to Chapter VI 270
Vlll
VII UNDER A DOUBLE BURDEN: FEEBLE-
MINDED BLACKS IN THE SOUTH 284
Notes to Chapter VII 313
VIII THE PROMISE OF STERILIZATION 325
Notes to Chapter VIII 353
IX SOUTHERN INSTITUTIONS IN A
WIDER WORLD 363
Notes to Chapter IX 395
X CONCLUSION 405
Notes to Chapter X 413
BIBLIOGRAPHY 415
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 473
IX
11
LIST OF TABLES
Table page
2. Idiotic Persons Enumerated by the
U.S. Census 1850-1890 35
2.2 Special Classes Throughout the
Nation 55
3 . Median IQ Scores of Southern Males
1917 Army Alpha Test 82
3.2 Numbers of Mental Defectives
Institutionalized by Region 1937.... 100
3 . 3 Numbers of Mental Defectives
Institutionalized by
Southern States 1937 101
5.1 Patients in State Institutions for
Mental Defectives per
100,000 Population 1923, 1940 178
5.2 Pay Scales for Superintendents,
Teachers, and Attendants,
Florida Farm Colony 1921-1936 188
5.3 Average Length of Residence, by Sex
Caswell Training School
1914-1939 197
5.4 Places of Employment for Patients at
Caswell Training School 1935 205
5.5 Schools in Southern Institutions
1938-1940 210