Professor says young man’s death hearkens back to Central State Hospital’s history
Shawn Utsey is a documentarian and psychology professor. He says Virginia’s Central State Hospital, which was the first psychiatric hospital for Black people in the United States, began with an emphasis on controlling newly-freed slaves. He says the criminalization of Black people then is the very mindset that led to the death of Irvo Otieno.
Credits
Producer / Reporter: Angie Miles
Photographer: Zach Keifer, Octillion Productions
Editor: Shawn Freude
Editorial Review: Craig Merritt
Additional Media: Cook Collection, The Valentine
Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
Library of Virginia
Richmond Times-Dispatch Archives
USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
Shawn Utsey | Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane
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