What is Dysaethesia aethiopica?
'''Dysaethesia aethiopica''' was a term to describe a [[mental illness]]. It was believed to be why [[Afro-American]] [[slavery|slaves]] were lazy. American [[physician]] [[Samuel A. Cartwright]] described the condition in 1851. Today, dysaethesia aethiopica is considered an example of [[pseudoscience]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Mark Michael Smith |title=Mastered by the Clock: Time, Slavery, and Freedom in the American South |year=1997 |accessdate=2007-10-07 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |location=Chapel Hill, N.C. |isbn=0807846937 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIaSAKm7QowC&dq=Dysaethesia+Aethiopica&pg=PA155 |page=155 }}</ref> Many people think it is an example of [[scientific racism]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/nov05.htm |title= Question of the Month: Drapetomania |accessdate= 2007-10-04 |author= Pilgrim, David |date= November 2005 |publisher= Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia |archive-date= 2011-06-04 |archive-url= https://www.webcitation.org/5zBxdF8Vo?url=http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/nov05.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref> Cartwright made a statement that the illness caused people to break everything they touched. They walked about as if they were in a daze, or half asleep. They often argued with people in charge and caused disturbances. They did not feel pain, and did not react when physically punished. It affected people who did not have white (or European) people to look after them.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106t.html |title=Africans in America/Part 4/'Diseases and Peculiarities' |first= |last= |work= pbs.org |year=2011 |origyear= last update |accessdate= 22 April 2011}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Pseudoscience]] {{-}} {{science-stub}}