Theophilus Orgain Powell

Theophilus Orgain Powell (21 March 1837 – 18 August 1907) was a physician who served as the superintendent of the Georgia State Sanitarium from 1862 until his death. He assumed this role after working as the Assistant Surgeon to the 49th Georgia Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Powell held racist views about African American patients that were influential during his era.

Biography Theophilus Orgain Powell was born on 21 March 1837 in Brunswick County, Virginia. His father was Colonel Marcus D. Powell, a planter, and his mother was Elizabeth Orgain Powell. He was of English descent; one of his ancestors was Nathaniel Powell.

Powell was a member of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He served until August 1862, when he became the assistant physician at the Georgia State Sanitarium in Milledgeville. As superintendent, Powell implemented occupational therapy. He upheld Green's racist hospital policies, and he did not believe in germ theory. The sanitarium was thus overcrowded and unsanitary. Records from his tenure showed that African American patients experienced high rates of tuberculosis and pellagra.

Powell's writings, particularly about the "colored insane", has been described as influential by Dr. Diana Martha Louis. He believed that African Americans had a natural tendency towards madness and alcoholism.

Powell was the president of the Georgia Medical Association in 1887 and the Medico-Psychological Association in 1898. His remains were buried in the Milledgeville cemetery.