[영문]The need to focus on service and policy barriers to mental healthservice delivery for African Americans remains critical. The purposeof this article is to review nineteenth century care as a methodfor understanding contemporary service and policy barriers. Acase study strategy is used to compare the efforts of Pennsylvaniaand South Carolina using primary and secondary sources todocument these developments through a political economy perspective.These findings suggest that the prevailing social, politicaland economic realities have created mental health disparities alongracial lines. Existing barriers are likely rooted in this same reality