Looking for empirical evidence to justify their claims about black racial inferiority, the Jim Crow era scientific and medical community found that black Americans had higher morbidity and mortality rates for diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, whooping cough, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, malaria, pellagra, acute nephritis, hookworm, and tuberculosis. The poor health conditions among black communities were blamed on race, blood, and genes rather than socioeconomic factors and unequal access to healthcare.  

Racial Stereotypes of Contamination Under Jim Crow


Black Americans who experienced more everyday racial discrimination were more likely to report contamination and unacceptable thoughts obsessions. However, discrimination related to other factors (such as age, gender, income, height, etc.) did not have a significant association with contamination or unacceptable thoughts obsessions. 


University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

In a study including 3,570 black Americans and 891 non-Hispanic white Americans, participants were asked to assess the presence of counting, arranging, repeating words, and washing and checking behaviors. Participants were also asked to answer a 10 item list gauging the presence of everyday discrimination, and then asked the primary reason why they believed they were discriminated against in that way: race, gender, age, weight, height, income, sexual orientation, etc.

OCD and Racial Discrimination in Black Americans

Williams MT, Taylor RJ, Mouzon DM, Oshin LA, Himle JA, Chatters LM. Discrimination and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder among African Americans. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2017;87(6):636-645. doi: 10.1037/ort0000285. Epub 2017 Aug 17. PMID: 28816492; PMCID: PMC6200143.

Discrimination and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder among African Americans

Findings Related to OCD Obsessions in Black Americans

Black Americans who reported higher amounts of everyday racial discrimination were more likely to engage in all four compulsions being measured — arranging, counting, repeating words, and washing and checking. However, everyday non-racial discrimination did not have a significant association with these compulsions. 

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