The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided support to the Student Health Coalition early on, beginning in 1970. A TVA van traveled to the Coalition health fairs and included x-ray, lab facilities, and staff to run it. Retired TVA vans eventually served as early clinic buildings in the communities where the Coalition worked.
TVA is a federal agency founded in the 1930s to nurture economic development in the southeastern United States.
The TVA archives contain detailed documents about the exchanges between TVA and the leaders of the communities where SHC worked as well as between TVA and SHC student leaders. They also contain wonderful handwritten examples of flyers crafted to advertise the health fairs.
Related Content:
Article: “Second Health Fair in Progress,” from the Oak Ridger
Lunsford, Larry. “Second Health Fair In Progress.” Oak Ridger, 1971. View PDF. Transcription: A second “Health Fair” is currently in progress at the Briceville Elementary School in the Briceville Community west of Lake City. (It continues through Friday.) Sponsored by the Briceville… Continued
Reflections on the level of care at SHC health fairs
Tom John and Rick Davidson retrospectively comment on the level and quality of care provided at the Student Health Coalition summer health fairs, and how theses experiences shaped their own understanding of and perspective on healthcare. Full footage of… Continued
Article: “Health Care for those off the beaten path,” from the Tennessee Valley Authority
Kollar, Robert. “Health care for those off the beaten path.” Tennessee Valley Authority, post-1975. View PDF. More on the Tennessee Valley Authority: Continued
Post-health fair formation of community councils and the origins of MPHC in Tennessee
As part of the Student Health Coalition Archive Project, Caryl Carpenter and Rick Davidson meet with James Lovett, CEO of Mountain People’s Health Councils, Inc. Their primary objective is to collect a firsthand account from Lovett and in so doing,… Continued
Key issues tackled by ETRC
John Williams and Neil McBride share a list of the East Tennessee Research Corporation’s range of legal issues addressed between 1974 and 1977, including but not limited to: coal industry regulation, industrial development, environmental litigation, barriers to independently-run rural health… Continued
Bill Dow
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… Continued
Interview with Neil McBride by Jessie Wilkerson, May 27 2010, Southern Oral History Program, UNC Chapel Hill
Neil McBride was born on December 12, 1945 in Dallas, Texas. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1970. After graduating, he worked for a year as the Southern Director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research… Continued
Progression of black lung care toward government-funded clinics, 1973
John Kennedy describes monumental developments in black lung care during the summer of 1973, primarily as it pertains to the establishment of state and federally funded clinics. He details the complex effort in acquiring these funds, including the role key… Continued
Cathy Barrow Heck and Jeff Heck
Contributed by Cathy Barrow Heck I was absolutely sold on the Appalachian Student Health Coalition upon seeing the video as a nursing student in the fall of 1973. The idea of a team of students working in partnership with rural… Continued
Records of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
This collection of records includes administrative papers from several divisions of the 1933 federally established corporation, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), such as correspondence, general reports, financial statements, work stoppages and strikes records, cartographic records, photographs, and audiovisual recordings of daily… Continued
Neil McBride on the spirit of ETRC
Lark Hayes highlights Neil McBride’s thoughtfulness and tenacity in his litigative work with the East Tennessee Research Corporation (ETRC), and shares an email verbalizing his perception of ETRC’s empowering spirit. Full footage of the 2017 ETRC panel featuring John… Continued
Pete Moss
Contributed by Pete Moss and Jennifer Crane, March 2016. Dr. Pete Moss was raised on his maternal grandparents’ farm in Marshall County, Tenn., while his father fought in World War II. As the eldest of his siblings, he learned responsibility,… Continued
Byrd Duncan
Contributed by John E. Davis When the newly recruited medical workers and community workers of the Student Health Coalition gathered in Nashville in June 1970, beginning a week of orientation for the SHC’s second summer in Appalachia, they were introduced… Continued
Margaret Ecker
Contributed by Margaret Ecker, August 2019 I joined the Coalition as a community organizer after graduating from Vanderbilt in Philosophy in 1970. I stayed on with the Coalition through the next school year to help with year end reports and… Continued
J.W. Bradley
Jacob “J.W.” Bradley was born on 29 June 1930 and raised in Petros, Tenn., a small Appalachian coalfield community in the Cumberland Mountains. J.W. married Emma “Kate” Hobbs in 1951. As an adult, J.W. worked several jobs. At eighteen he… Continued
Lark Hayes’ origins with ETRC
Lark Hayes shares her history with the East Tennessee Research Corporation (ETRC), highlighting responsibilities such as putting together a rights and benefits handbook, southern coal property title research, and overloaded coal truck fact-finding (for lawsuits) alongside Charles “Boomer” Winfrey and… Continued
External Link:
Tennessee Valley Authority, Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Valley_Authority