Crownsville State Hospital was an establishment created in the early 20th century as a home for the negro insane. The hospital was constructed to remove the mentally ill black patients from general hospitals, and to provide shelter for the homeless. Opened in 1911 the hospital survived through many of our nation's hardships, such as the great depression. Crownsville State Hospital closed its doors in July 2004. In the late 1940s and early 1950s Crownsville was described as having unbearable living conditions as well as inhumane and illegal experiments or studies on patients. Crownsville State Hospital initially was a great place for young and old African Americans suffering from mental illness, but that gave way to hardships. The patients…show more content… The obvious reasoning for the decline of conditions is due to overpopulation. This is apparent when Tom Marquardt stated that “The patient census shows that the population went from a manageable 521 in 1920 to 2,719 in 1955,”(Marquardt 1). Patients were not getting the attention that they so desperately needed. Since the patients were often hazardous to themselves and others they were chained to walls, chairs, and benches (Marquardt 1). In doing so, the patients were then forgotten about and ignored. Many believed that the misconduct and maltreatment was because of the race of the inhabitants. At Crownsville, the chances of dying were greater than the chances of being released. Historian Paul Lurz declared that “In 1929, he says, there were 55 discharges from Crownsville — and 92 deaths,” (Marquardt 1). The great majority of these deaths occurred due to the terrible living conditions and starvation, but another major cause for death was human experimentation. In addition, Crownsville’s dark and terrifying legacy is also due to the experiments performed on the unknowing patients. These experiments ranged from injecting patients with hepatitis to drilling a hole in their head and removing fluids. Lurz stated that “There was a whole rationale about it that they (the patients) could pay back the institution for their stay. They are not going back to the community. They have nothing to lose. That was the thinking,” (Marquardt 1). One of the most spine chilling experiments performed was pneumoencephalography which was the practice
