Life, Healthcare, and Death at the St. Croix Leprosy Hospital: Marginalization, Alienation, and Colonial Healthcare

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Historical documents suggest the patients of the St. Croix Leprosy Hospital lived a tough life. The first facility was understaffed, overcrowded, in disrepair, and not conducive to healthcare. The second facility, according to US government reports in the 1930s, always suffered from neglect and it was not clear if the patients lived a decent life or a dull existence. Newspaper accounts in the 1940s do not suggest that the facility was in any shape to house sick patients while the US Government engaged in patient treatment. Using a combination of historical documents, archaeological data, landscape analysis, and the bioarchaeological study of headstones in the Christiansted Public Cemetery, we examine institutionalized marginalization in a healthcare setting as implemented by colonial governments. This marginalized existence likely meant that many patients felt alienated from the rest of society and were powerless with little control of their lives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• 2024 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow