Chapter 26. The Colony

Established as the Virginia State Epileptic Colony in 1910, the facility is located on a tract of land overlooking the James River in Amherst County.  The facility was originally designed to serve 100 persons with epilepsy drawn from Virginia’s three state mental hospitals (Eastern State Hospital, Southwestern State Hospital and Western State Hospital).  The first patients were admitted on 16 May 1911.  In 1920 the name changed to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded.  Its most famous patient was Carrie Buck, the first person involuntarily sterilized under Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924.  In 1927 the United States Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld the constitutionality of the law.  Source:  "Central Virginia Training Center History." Central Virginia Training Center. Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.

To learn more about the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded see:  Smith, J. David. “Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded.” Encyclopedia of American Disability History.  New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009.  American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.

To learn more about Virginia’s racial integrity laws see:  Wolfe, Brendan. "Racial Integrity Laws (1924–1930)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 4 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.

To learn more about Buck v. Bell see:  Wolfe, Brendan. "Buck v. Bell (1927)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 4 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.