Main Conent

Junius Wilson in pajamas and Santa hat, Polaroid snapshot, 2000

janius wilson black white photograph disability history america

Junius Wilson, a deaf man from North Carolina, was falsely accused of attempted rape in the early 1900s. At his trial, no members of the deaf-culture community testified. He was incorrectly judged incompetent and sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. In 1931, Wilson was castrated.

Courtesy of Everett Parker, Jr.