Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

by Antonia Hylton

William was lowered into the ground at Laurel Cemetery, the first non-faith-based cemetery for Baltimore’s Black community. Laid to rest among Union soldiers, businesspeople, and civil rights activists, William had made his way home to peace for the first time in years. Prejudice and racial violence had surrounded him—it had determined where he lived, how he taught his students, and how hard he had to work to advance his family. His downfall, his broken spirit, and his stolen life were the residue of the racial lines that had formed and collapsed around him. It was a bondage to these color lines that even a place designed for rehabilitation could not break. Decades later, Laurel Cemetery would be purchased and turned into a shopping center. William Murray’s remains very likely rest under the blacktop of a parking lot.