In “Introducing White Disability Studiesː A Modest Proposal”, Bell lays out the ways in which Disability Studies have, “a tendency to whitewash disability history, ontology and phenomenology,” and that they would be more aptly namedː White Disability Studies (Bell 275). While the entire piece was thought provoking and well written, one point stood out more than any other for me – Bell points out that disability studies often focus on the disability without discussing the intersection of that disability and the subjects of race and ethnicity. This point made me pause and re-read Sula through a different lens. Within the community of Medallion, Ohio there are several characters who are disabled in one way or another, and each of their experiences both within, and outside of, their community is further shaped by their race and ethnicity. Shadrack’s treatment within the military hospital, and his treatment in the white town show not only the blatant racism of the time, but also a disparity in the treatment of African Americans with disabilities of the time, and through that disparity an entirely different experience of disability.
Obviously, racism is rampant in Sula, and when reading a story of a segregated mid-western American town around the first World War, this is not shocking.But this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t point out the obvious, and make it a conversation – we should heed Bell’s advice and talk about what isn’t being talked about, even when it does seem obvious. And when reading of Shadrack’s experience in a wartime hospital, it is impossible to not question if his race played a part in his treatment by his attending doctor. Would the doctor have told a white man with the same actions “Nobody is going to feed you forever,” or “pick it up, I said. There’s no point to this…” (Morrison 9)? While doctors certainly saw an unprecented number of young men experiencing shell-shock during World War One, and were undoubtedly at a loss for how to help them, one must wonder if there would be more preferential treatment towards a white male over an African American male with the same symptoms. Would a white man have at least been shown a mirror, or told his name or maybe some basic directions home?
Another obvious example of a difference in experience and treatment is in the vaguely named “Midwestern town” which he comes to after leaving the hospital. As Shadrack breaks down, eyes closed, simultaneously untying and knotting his shoelaces, no one stops to help. No one asks if he’s alright. Instead the police arrive and arrest him for “vagrancy and intoxication” and lock him up in jail (Morrison 13). Had a white man been having the same non-violent break down while sitting on the curb, we have to ask ourselves – would he have had the same experience? Likely not. The charge of vagrancy has roots in the Civil War, and was aimed specifically at African Americans who appeared to be homeless (or even sometimes just appeared at all) within white communities (Tarter).
Shadrack’s examples represent just one character’s experiences within the intersectionality of race, ethnicity and disability in Sula, a book which is ripe with characters who each have their own unique experiences of the same intersectionality. His treatment within the military hospital, and his experience in the white town are evidence of the obvious racism of the time and place of the story, but are also evidence of a disparity in the treatment and experiences of African Americans with disabilities and their white neighbors.
Additional Work Cited:
Tarter, Brent. “Vagrancy Act of 1866.” Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 25 Aug. 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2020
Word Count: 608
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.
