Over the years, Crownsville had developed into a dumping ground—a place that seemed to swallow the undesired, poor, and nonconforming Black residents of Maryland and, at times, deny them fundamental human rights. Black employees, many of whom came from the same neighborhoods and conditions as their patients, found themselves working under impossible and ethically compromising conditions. They were not always confident that their work was enough to outweigh the harm, but the alternative—a return to the days of a white-only professional staff—seemed far worse.
