Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson

While all individuals have a story, not all individuals’stories offer great insights about American history. This accountof Junius Wilson's life (1908–2001) provides a devastatingcritique of North Carolina social norms and policies (especiallyattitudes to the deaf and to African Americans), court operations,state institutionalization and treatment of the insane, andaccess to justice. Mr. Wilson was "incarcerated in an insaneasylum merely because he was deaf, black, and poor, and bureaucraticinertia and staff paternalism helped keep him there for [morethan] sixty-five years" (129). Not only was he imprisoned physicallybut also he was isolated culturally since he was denied access