Diseased Race, Racialized Disease: The Story of the Negro Project of American Social Hygiene Association Against the Backdrop of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Abstract

This article traces the history of the Negro Project of American Social Hygiene Association, which began in the early 1940s and faded away into obscurity by the middle of the decade. The article then compares and contrasts the story of the Negro Project with that of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, and argues that the stereotypical and predominant notions of racial black masculinity in the United States were at the root of the reason why the Negro Project failed while the Tuskegee study prospered. While the Tuskegee study conformed to the grand narrative of racial black masculinity, the Negro Project constructed itself as counter-hegemonic to that grand narrative, contributing to its premature termination. The juxtaposition of the two stories reveals the complexity of the narrative of African American masculinity within the United States.