GBH Openvault
Say Brother; Social Control; Historical justifications for the institution of slavery
Part of Say Brother.
05/30/1974
In this clip Dr. Stephen L. Chorover of the MIT Psychology Department talks about the medical community in the 1850's, and the means by which it justified slavery. Overall the program focuses on the surgical and psychotropic research being proposed (and in some cases, implemented) to curb violent tendencies via the testing of prison inmates. Host Topper Carew speaks with inmates of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk and two groups of professionals in two separate interviews: the first with Rev. Edward Rodman (of the Episcopal Diocese of Boston) and Professor Stephan L. Chorover (of the MIT Psychology Department) to discuss "psychosurgery"; the second with Arnold Coles (Chairman of the National Prisoners Reform Association) and Richard Clapp (formerly with the Prison Health Project) to discuss drug experimentation. Discussion topics included reactions to the theory of dysfunction in the brain as a source of violent behavior, whether surgery is necessary to remedy behavior, what the political implications of surgery are, what diseases "pyschosurgery" is justified for, what the ethics of "psychosurgery" are, and how drug companies end up doing much of their experimentation in prisons. Produced by Topper Carew. Directed by Conrad White.
License Clip
- Series
- Say Brother
- Program
- Social Control
- Program Number
327
- Title
Historical justifications for the institution of slavery
- Series Description
Say Brother is WGBH's longest running public affairs television program by, for and about African Americans, and is now known as Basic Black. Since its inception in 1968, Say Brother has featured the voices of both locally and nationally known African American artists, athletes, performers, politicians, professionals, and writers including: Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Thomas Atkins, Amiri Baraka, Doris Bunte, Julian Bond, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farrakhan, Nikki Giovanni, Odetta Gordon, Henry Hampton, Benjamin Hooks, Jesse Jackson, Hubie Jones, Mel King, Eartha Kitt, Elma Lewis, Haki Madhubuti, Wallace D. Muhammad, Charles Ogletree, Babatunde Olatunji, Byron Rushing, Owusu Sadaukai, and Sonia Sanchez. Series release date: 7/15/1968
- Program Description
Program focuses on the surgical and psychotropic research being proposed (and in some cases, implemented) to curb violent tendencies via the testing of prison inmates. Host Topper Carew speaks with inmates of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk and two groups of professionals in two separate interviews: the first with Rev. Edward Rodman (of the Episcopal Diocese of Boston) and Professor Stephan L. Chorover (of the MIT Psychology Department) to discuss "psychosurgery"; the second with Arnold Coles (Chairman of the National Prisoners Reform Association) and Richard Clapp (formerly with the Prison Health Project) to discuss drug experimentation. Discussion topics included reactions to the theory of dysfunction in the brain as a source of violent behavior, whether surgery is necessary to remedy behavior, what the political implications of surgery are, what diseases "pyschosurgery" is justified for, what the ethics of "psychosurgery" are, and how drug companies end up doing much of their experimentation in prisons.
- Asset Type
Clip
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Segregation
- Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk (Norfolk, Mass.)
- Coles, Arnold
- Chorover, Stephan L.
- Clapp, Richard
- Civil rights
- Slave trade
- Rodman, Rev. Edward
- Genres
- Magazine
- Topics
- Race and Ethnicity
- Creators
- Barrow-Murray, Barbara (Associate Producer)
- Carew, Topper (Producer)
- White, Conrad (Director)
- Contributors
- Johnson, Henry (Filmmaker)
- Huntley Nicholas, Jr. (film sound) (Other)
- Carew, Topper (Host)
- Spooner, Dighton (Researcher)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “Say Brother; Social Control; Historical justifications for the institution of slavery,” 05/30/1974, GBH Archives, accessed December 21, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_528BFD6861104FE986302E6E5C43BBF6.
- MLA: “Say Brother; Social Control; Historical justifications for the institution of slavery.” 05/30/1974. GBH Archives. Web. December 21, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_528BFD6861104FE986302E6E5C43BBF6>.
- APA: Say Brother; Social Control; Historical justifications for the institution of slavery. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_528BFD6861104FE986302E6E5C43BBF6