Documenting the American South Logo  Eastern North Carolina
Insane Asylum (Goldsboro, N.C.) Goldsboro, N.C.: The Asylum,
1885.   The 1884 Superintendent's Report of the Eastern North
Carolina Insane Asylum, written by Dr. J. D. Roberts for the
asylum's board of directors and Governor Thomas J. Jarvis,
provides updates on finances, repairs, and patient statistics.
The asylum, now Cherry Hospital, was established in 1877 by the
North Carolina General Assembly and opened in 1880 as the Asylum
for Colored Insane, the state's only hospital for mentally ill
African Americans. In the report, Dr. Roberts discusses various
patient issues, including population movements, cures, and
deaths, and cites an increase in insanity that caused the
institution to reach a record high of 152 patients in 1884. He
mentions the institution's needs, primarily building repairs, a
new entrance, population management, and more female employees,
and recommends the state allocate additional resources to meet
the African American community'