Take, for example, Samuel A. Cartwright. In 1851, Cartwright named two “illnesses” that were exclusively found in Africans. The first of the two was what he called “drapetomania,” which was a mental illness that caused the Slave to run away. The second one was called “dysaesthesia aethiopica,” which was a sort of weakness or lack of work ethic that Africans would develop if they were not enslaved or otherwise in the possession of white enslavers. His suggested treatment for both illnesses was to wash their open wounds, drape their bodies in oil, beat them with a leather strap, and force them
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