M. D. Schaffer’s ‘Drapetomania: A Negro Carol’ is a wild ride through history
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) In 1851, in an article written for DeBow’s Review that was published in New Orleans, Dr. Samuel Cartwright, a physician, created a pseudoscientific term he called “drapetomania.” He crafted drapetomania, from two Greek words drapetes (“runaway slaves”) and mania (madness) to explain the reason why Southern slaves…