"On \;a \;cold day \;in \; March of 1911\, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of \ ;a \;forest \;in \;Maryland. Under the supervision of \;a& nbsp\;doctor\, the men were forced to clear the land\, pour cement\, lay b ricks\, \;and \;harvest tobacco. When construction finished\, they became the first twelve patients of the state's Hospital for the Negro&nb sp\;Insane. For centuries\, Black patients have been absent from our histo ry books. "Madness" transports readers behind the brick walls of \;a&n bsp\;Jim \;Crow \;asylum. \;In "Madness\," Peabody \;and&n bsp\;Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old hi story of Crownsville Hospital\, one of the last segregated \;asylums&n bsp\;with surviving records \;and \;a \;campus that still stan ds to this day \;in \;Anne Arundel County\, Maryland. She blends t he intimate tales of patients \;and \;employees whose lives were s haped by Crownsville with \;a \;decade-worth of investigative rese arch \;and \;archival documents. "Madness" chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried\, \;and&n bsp\;sometimes failed\, to find safety \;and \;dignity. Hylton als o grapples with her own family's experiences with mental illness\, \;a nd \;the secrecy \;and \;shame that it reproduced for generati ons. As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to&nb sp\;a \;tiny city sitting on 1\,500 acres\, the institution became&nbs p\;a \;microcosm of America's evolving battles over slavery\, racial i ntegration\, \;and \;civil rights. During its peak years\, the hos pital's wards were overflowing with almost 2\,700 patients. By the end of the 20th-century\, the \;asylum \;faded from view as prisons \ ;and \;jails became America's new focus. \;In "Madness\," Hylton t races the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people's bodies \;and \;minds \;in \;our current mental healthcare system. It is \;a \;captivating \;and \;heartbreaking meditation on h ow America decides who is sick or criminal\, \;and \;who is worthy of our care or irredeemable."
\n&mdash\;From Catalog.
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