Francis T. Stribling, M.D.

Superintendent, Western Lunatic Asylum, Va.

As chairman of the Virginia Asylum Commission, Dr. Francis Stribling developed a set of criteria that he proposed should guide the selection of a location for an asylum for African Americans. Dr. Stribling was also the co-chair of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, the forerunner of the American Psychiatric Association.

He proposed that the differences between blacks and whites were so extensive that a separate institution needed to be developed for each group. Dr. Stribling's views on racial separation influenced the decision by General Edward Canby and the Virginia legislature, resulting in the proposal to create a Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane in 1870.