Page 197 - BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK

158 BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS

Recently, in a children’s paper, I read a caption to a picture in
which a young black Boy Scout was showing a Negro village to
three or four white scouts: “This is the kettle where my ancestors
cooked yours.” One will gladly concede that there are no more
Negro cannibals, but we should not allow ourselves to forget. . . .
Quite seriously, however, I think that the writer of that caption
has done a genuine service to Negroes without knowing it. For
the white child who reads it will not form a mental picture of the
Negro in the act of eating the white man, but rather as having
eaten him. Unquestionably, this is progress.
Before concluding this chapter, I should like to abstract a case
study, for access to which I must thank the medical director of
the women’s division of the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Ylie. The
case clarifi es the point of view that I am defending here. It proves
that, at its extreme, the myth of the Negro, the idea of the Negro,
can become the decisive factor of an authentic alienation.
Mille. B. was nineteen years old when she entered the hospital
in March. Her admission sheet reads:

The undersigned, Dr. P., formerly on the staff of the Hospitals of Paris,
certifi es that he has examined Mille. B., who is affl icted with a nervous
disease consisting of periods of agitation, motor instability, tics, and spasms
which are conscious but which she cannot control. These symptoms have
been increasing and prevent her from leading a normal social life. Her
commitment for observation is required under the provisions laid down
by the law of 1838 regarding voluntary commitments.
Twenty-four hours later the chief physician found these facts:
“Affl icted with neurotic tics that began at the age of ten and
became aggravated at the onset of puberty, and further when she
began going to work away from home. Intermittent depressions
with anxiety, accompanied by a recrudescence of these symptoms.
Obesity. Requests treatment. Feels reassured in company. Assigned
to an open ward. Should remain institutionalized.”
Her immediate family had no history of pathological mani-
festations. Puberty occurred at the age of sixteen. A physical
examination showed nothing except adiposity and a minimal

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