title: The public face of Southern institutions for the "feeble-minded".
abstract: The article examines the history of Southern institutions and how these facilities are presently facing up to that past. Established both to care for and to control a population of individuals labeled as feeble-minded and deviant, these facilities provided little support and help for patients and quickly devolved into over-crowded, under-funded operations. With the de-institutionalization revolution of the late twentieth century, they ceased to be the center of their state's program to handle this population. Currently through websites, museums, archives, and historic building designations, they are beginning to examine their past treatment in a more public fashion.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noll
mesh_terms: D005053:Eugenics / Q000266:history; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000266:history*; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D015144:Southeastern United States