Brehs, Have You Ever Heard Of The Mental Illness Called Drapetomania?

[invalid]

Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity.[1]: 41 [2] This hypothesis centered around the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape.[3][4]

The term derives from the Greek δραπέτης (drapetēs, "a runaway [slave]") and μανία (mania, "madness, frenzy").[8]

As late as 1914, the third edition of Thomas Lathrop Stedman's Practical Medical Dictionary included an entry for drapetomania, defined as "Vagabondage, dromomania; an uncontrollable or insane impulsion to wander."[9]

Also, on the term Vagabond relating to slavery.

The Vagabonds Act 1547 (1 Edw. 6. c. 3), also known as the Vagrancy Act, was a statute passed in England by King Edward VI and his Lord Protector, Edward Seymour.[1] It provided that vagabonds could be enslaved for two years and continued weekly parish collections for the poor.[2] The enslaved vagabonds were to be fed bread and water or small drink and were allowed to be worked by beating, chaining, or other methods the master may choose. Vagabond slaves were allowed to be bought and sold just as other slaves. Also, should no private man want the vagabond slave, the slave was to be sent to their town of birth and be forced to work as a slave for that community.[3] Vagabond children could be claimed as "apprentices" and be held as such until the age of 24 if a boy, or the age of 20 if a girl. Should they attempt to escape this apprenticeship, they were subject to enslavement for the remainder of the apprenticeship.[4]

Salute to my drapetomaniac 4th Great Grandfather who said fukk this and escaped slavery in Georgetown, Maryland (now DC) and proceeded to Canada, where he rose to become Bishop of the Canadian Province of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He set is generations up nicely. We are his faith turned to flesh.

 

[invalid]

@get these nets What is the history of the term vagabond in relation to the Haitian community?

 

[Rollie Forbes]

Thanks for sharing this!

 

[Billy Ocean]

Wow...

 

[invalid]

@Nkrumah Was Right is a drapetomaniac trying to escape the bonds of mental slavery.

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/one-of-the-biggest-problems-holding-back-africa-and-its-diaspora-are-psychological.985593/

 

[get these nets]

@get these nets What is the history of the term vagabond in relation to the Haitian community?

Think it's taken from the Biblical use of the term. Meaning literally a bum.

To a person with any kind of self respect, it's the very worst thing to be called. Evolved into a one-size-fits-all insult for negative behavior; criminals, people who don't work, lowlifes, etc

In American English the closest counterpart word is bum. In Caribbean English the closest counterpart words are "ne'er do well" and wasteman

 

[invalid]

Think it's taken from the Biblical use of the term. Meaning literally a bum.

To a person with any kind of self respect, it's the very worst thing to be called. Evolved into a one-size-fits-all insult for negative behavior; criminals, people who don't work, lowlifes, etc

In American English the closest counterpart word is bum. In Caribbean English the closest counterpart words are "ne'er do well" and wasteman

Thanks. Thought the term, with respect to Haitians and AA, may have had its roots in slavery.

 

[get these nets]

Thanks. Thought the term, with respect to Haitians and AA, may have had its roots in slavery.

You're welcome. I'm going to ask older relatives who are better versed in Haitian history and bring up the details outlined in OP.

Interesting info in your post. Most importantly, your ancestor and the agency to remove himself from slavery. I wish to see an A (C)MPBF entry about his children n the future.

The pseudo-science about mental illness diagnosis for wanting to escape is just another layer of how the scientific community worked in tandem with politicians and artists to justify chattel slavery with bullshyt propaganda. The first date quoted (1851) coincides with the Fugitive Slave Act being enacted a bit earlier, and growing abolitionist influence, so they were dialing up the bullsh*t to drown them out. And to justify the law. Gotdamned demons that they were.

 

[the elastic]

Puts psychology and all their diagnosing into a whole different perspective

 

[KBtheKey]

Off the name I would've assumed it was the unexplainable need to always be draped up and dripped out