IDKMYDE: Drapetomania and the Lexicon of Oppession

On todays episode of IDKMYDE we introduce words of oppression like, Drapetomania: the 19th-century ‘diagnosis’ that labeled enslaved people wanting freedom as mentally ill—because apparently, the real problem wasn’t slavery, it was the desire to escape it.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
Let's talk about something wild. Drape domania, now, don't worry,
is not another WWE event. It's not a new crypto
scam or a TikTok trend. It's actually a piece of
history that's so ridiculous it sounds like satire. I didn't know.

(00:21):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know. I didn't know. Back in eighteen fifty one,
this guy named Samuel Cartwright, he's a doctor. Mind you
comes up with this disease called drape toomania. And what

(00:41):
was this illness? You ask, Well, I'll share. It was
when enslaved black people wanted to escape. Yes, apparently wanting
freedom was considered a mental disorder, like, oh wait, you
don't enjoy being beaten and overworked and treated like property,
must be something wrong with your brain. And doctor Cartwright
wasn't just joking around. He had treatment plans spoiler alert,

(01:06):
they weren't great. His cure was basically, you just got
to hit them harder, because you know, nothing says mental
health care like a little violence. But drape domania wasn't
the only wild word. They came up with during this time.
Oh no, they had a whole lexicon of oppression. Take
chattle for example, that's what they called the enslaved people.
You've heard of chattle slavery. Yeah, chattel means property like

(01:28):
a couch or a cow. Imagine being referred to as
someone's love seat. Or how about the term fugitive slave.
That term was for people who escaped slavery. They made
it sound like these folks were robbing banks instead of,
you know, trying to not be enslaved. Then there were
the slave codes, and we've discussed these in previous seasons
of I didn't know, maybe you dine either, But these

(01:49):
were actually laws designed to control enslaved people. They dictated
everything where you could go, who you could talk to,
even whether you could learn to read. Like, we're already
still in your freedom, but let's go ahead and micro
manage your existence too. Oh here's another fun one, manumissions.
Now that these were rare, because that's when in enslaver

(02:12):
decided to free someone thoughtful. Congratulations, you're free. Now go
figure out life in the world has been set up
to screw you over. They also had a term the
task system and that's where enslaved people were giving daily
assignments instead of just working from sun up to sundown. Yeah,
people actually thought this was progress. It's like saying good news,

(02:33):
you only have to suffer for half the day now.
So why am I telling you all this? Because words
have power. Back then, they use words to dehumanize, to control,
to justify the unjustifiable. And today we still see how
language shapes the way we view people and history. But
here's the thing. We get to decide how we use

(02:53):
our words now. So let's use them to lift each
other up, to tell the truth, and to remind the
world that no one should ever need need a diagnosis
to want their freedom. Drake, doromania a word that I
didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,