Archiving Black Autism
Locating instances of Black Autism in the past poses distinct challenges. Many of the unethical treatments and experiments conducted on enslaved and free Blacks in institutions, like prisons, schools, and asylums, are not easily accessible and may still be hidden among private papers or glossed over in studies that disregard and devalue Black neurodivergent humanity.
How far back in history should one look, given that the label of autism was not established until the 1940’s? What other names or labels were used to classify neurodivergent people in general and Black Autists in particular? How do we identify misrepresentations of Black Autistic humanity reinforced by mainstream racist beliefs that Black people were/are naturally neurodivergent and, thus, inferior to their white counterparts? How and where do we find historical examples that challenge those assumptions?
Given that access to medical records is limited and legally protected (HIPAA), especially for enslaved populations that were considered property, not people, researching Black Autism in the past requires creativity, such as the use of the search term “unsound” to discard and devalue neurodivergent slaves.
Still, identifying and acknowledging the presence and hidden history of Black Autists and Black neurodivergence can increase our understanding of how the neurodiversity of the past has shaped later experiences of Black neurodivergence, such as the stigma of Autism in Black and Brown communities, the correlation between criminalization and Black neurodivergence, and the creative resilience that sustains, supports, and celebrates the value of Black Autistic personhood.
Archiving Black Autism/Autistic Blackness Research Guides
Part of this historical excavation process was generated by the creation of research guides, developed during the summer of 2021 as part of Trinity College’s community engagement program funded and supported by Trinity’s Public Humanities Collaborative.
Entitled, “Archiving Black Autism/Autistic Blackness,” this part of the project generated digital research guides based on researcher interests and on the information they were able to find by searching various historical archives. Working with digital scholars and librarians at Trinity College and at the Connecticut State library, each researcher created a digital topic guide using the tools that they developed during the 10-week summer session.