His work with the Student Health Coalition and subsequent dedication to accessible primary healthcare aside, Art Van Zee expands on his activism with other social causes of the time–namely, the anti-war movement. Recorded March 17th, 2013. Full footage of Art Van Zee’s interview.
Upon reaching East Tennessee in 1969-70, SHC community workers immediately encountered Black Lung Disease (Pneumoconiosis). For years, the SHC engaged Black Lung Disease on several levels: medical diagnosis and treatment; representation for federal benefits claims; and organizing for reform of the United Mine Workers Union. A working, non-technical definition of Black Lung Disease is a …
Contributed by John E. Davis and Jack Beckford. Dick Burr grew up in Lake Wales, Fla. After graduating from high school in 1967, he spent four years as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, majoring in philosophy. His years at Vanderbilt included such activities as an early morning arrest for “harassing a truck driver” after following …
Betty Anderson shares how she first became involved with Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and the Student Health Coalition. Included in her account is a story about how she and others responded to opposition of the rural health clinics in Petros, Norma, and Stoney Fork, Tenn.
Charles “Boomer” Winfrey delineates the historical account of Coal Creek, Tennessee’s Coal Creek War (the battle atop Militia Hill at Fort Anderson) to Maureen O’Connell, Tom John, and Biff Hollingsworth. He explains the conflict’s origins within a larger context of complex coal mining history in the region and discusses its profound impact on the convict …
Charles “Boomer” Winfrey on the Coal Creek War of 1892-1893 Read More »
Ron Carson shares about the origins of the building now home to the African American Cultural Center (formerly a Rosenwald School) in Pennington Gap, Virginia. His great-great-grandmother, Rachel Scott, owned the land upon which it was built–along with a significant amount of additional acreage in the area. Full footage of Ron Carson’s tour of …
Post-Reconstruction African American land ownership in Pennington Gap, VA Read More »
Bill Dow co-founded the Student Health Coalition while in medical school at Vanderbilt University, in 1969. His larger-than-life role in the SHC origin story and beyond warrants special telling, which we attempt in the essay that follows. Contributed by Margaret Ecker, compiled in collaboration with friends Bill Dow energized a generation of student activists and …
Odes and Shelby McKamey were among the most cherished local hosts for members of the SHC when the health fair arrived in their remote mountain community of Stoney Fork, Tenn. Later, after the Stoney Fork Clinic was established, the McKameys also housed and hosted visiting doctors who came to the clinic, including Tom John. Odes …
Contributed by John E. Davis, November 2019. The summer before his final year at the Vanderbilt Law School and during the summer and fall after his graduation, John Kennedy worked for the Student Health Coalition in 1971 and 1972. He provided assistance to former miners who were seeking black lung benefits and disability payments from …
While an engineering student at Vanderbilt University, Charles spent the summers of 1970 and 1971 with the Student Health Coalition. He was 18 years old when he joined the SHC, one of the Coalition’s youngest members. He served as a community worker in Clairfield, Tenn. where, in addition to providing support for the health fairs, …
