How the childbearing age was made a sin and a shame in the Jane Crow era.
In the first half of the last century, feeble-mindedness was widely accepted as a scourge to society and civilization. And though hereditary diseases or disorders of the mind and body were often factors in its diagnosis, morality and sexuality were believed equally as important and just as inheritable by birth.
For this reason, hundreds of girls and young women from broken homes, orphanages, jails, hospitals, convents, and shelters across Rhode Island were accused of being a danger to themselves and society and legally committed to an institution for the feeble-minded.
Exeter Girls is a collection of notes and letters following the true stories of three women — Evelyn, Cora, and Dorothy — whose harrowing journeys through this gauntlet of institutionalization will astonish you with confessions of injustice, tragedy, and despair.
The true stories of the lives and trials of three women committed to the Rhode Island School for the Feeble-Minded in the early 1900s — as told through their letters.
Excellent read. Highly Recommend! Eye opening on how things were back then.
This book helps the reader feel what these unfortunate women suffered. A must read for anyone in mental health care.
Loved this book. Its so great to read about history. The stories are real and vivid.
This book took me into the minds of the doctors… Very good read for anyone into asylum life.
The degree the superintendent… controlled a patient's life astonishes me. What a shameful past we have!