Under the Strain of Color: Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic and the Promise of an Antiracist Psychiatry

209 Pages·2015·3.19 MB·English

by  Gabriel N. Mendes

Under the Strain of Color
A volume in the series
Cornell Studies in the History of Psychiatry
Edited by Sander L. Gilman and George J. Makari
A list of titles in the series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Under the Strain of Color
Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic and the Promise
of an Antiracist Psychiatry
Gabriel N. Mendes
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
Cover illustration: Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964. Cut-and-pasted
photo-reproductions and papers, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on
cardboard. © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New
York NY. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by
SCALA/Art Resource.
Copyright © 2015 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in
writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University
Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2015 by Cornell University Press
First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2015
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mendes, Gabriel N., 1972– author.
Under the strain of color : Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic and the promise of
an antiracist psychiatry / Gabriel N. Mendes.
pages cm. — (Cornell studies in the history of psychiatry)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-5350-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. African Americans—Mental health services—New York (State)—
New York. 2. African Americans—Mental health—New York (State)—
New York. 3. Social psychiatry—New York (State)—New York.
4. Community psychiatry—New York (State)—New York. 5. Lafargue
Clinic (New York, N.Y.) 6. Wright, Richard, 1908–1960. 7. Wertham,
Fredric, 1895–1981. 8. Harlem (New York, N.Y.) I. Title.
RC451.5.N4M43 2015
616.890089'96073—dc23 2015005315
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Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my father Maxwell Mendes, the Tod Cliftons,
and the Lafargue Clinic patients
In practically all its divergences, American Negro culture is
not something independent of general American culture. It
is a distorted development, or a pathological condition, of the
general American culture.
Gunnar Myrdal, An America Dilemma, 1944
It does not occur to Myrdal that many of the Negro cultural
manifestations which he considers merely reflective might
also embody a rejection of what he considers “higher
values.”. . . It is only partially true that Negroes turn away
from white patterns because they are refused participation.
There is nothing like distance to create objectivity, and
exclusion gives rise to counter values. . . . It will take a deeper
science than Myrdal’s—deep as that might be—to analyze
what is happening among the masses of Negroes.
Ralph Ellison, “An American Dilemma: A Review,” 1944
The Freudians talk about the Id
And bury it below.
But Richard Wright took off the lid
And let us see the woe.
Dr. Fredric Wertham, “Underground,” 1942
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: “A Deeper Science” 1
1. “This Burden of Consciousness”: Richard Wright
and the Psychology of Race Relations, 1927–1947 20
2. “Intangible Difficulties”: Dr. Fredric Wertham and the
Politics of Psychiatry in the Interwar Years 53
3. “Between the Sewer and the Church”: The Emergence
of the Lafargue Mental Hygiene Clinic 85
4. Children and the Violence of Racism: The Lafargue
Clinic, Comic Books, and the Case against School Segregation 120
Epilogue: “An Experiment in the Social Basis
of Psychotherapy” 154
Notes 163
Index 187

Acknowledgments
I have been blessed with some extraordinary guides, mentors, colleagues,
friends, and, above all, family. Without those people who have both chal-
lenged me and had my back as I worked on this project, the book you are
now reading would never have been possible. This book had its incubation
in a set of conversations I had in graduate school with a truly remarkable
group of scholars and teachers at Brown University. Foremost among them
was James T. Campbell, whose model of integrity and rigorous thinking
and writing remains a constant source of inspiration and guidance in every
single aspect of my life as a scholar. I am especially grateful to Jim for his
investment in the development of this project and for his close and illumi-
nating readings of draft after draft of each chapter. Most of all I appreci-
ate his contagious enthusiasm for the art of historical narrative. To this
day, I walk away from conversations with Jim enlightened and enlivened,
rededicated to the task at hand. I also offer my most sincere thanks to Mari
Jo Buhle and B. Anthony Bogues. They modeled for me all that I aspire to
be as a rigorous and responsive mentor and guide to students.
While in Providence I found an invaluable intellectual community both
inside and outside the walls of Brown University. I thank Doug Brown, Liza
Burbank, Marcia Chatelain, Tom Chen, Themis Chronopoulos, Joe Clark,