The communities served by the Student Health Coalition (SHC) had endured many decades of economic exploitation, deprivation, division, and struggle long before the organization’s arrival in the 1970s. These same communities had forged a distinctive identity of hard work, mutual aid, and making-do while developing a rich culture of music, religion, language, hunting, husbandry, healing, and folklore. Poverty and abundance existed side by side.
On paternalistic industrialism: Alexander Arthur and the American Association
John Gaventa describes the British paternalism characteristic of late 19th-century industrialists, a philosophy that harnessed absentee land ownership in pursuit of capitalist economic gain. He references Alexander Arthur, Scottish-born entrepreneur, engineer, and president of the American Association, the British investment… Continued
The Elliot’s cement picnic table, a neighborhood fixture
Howard Elliot III, grandson of Howard and Elsie Elliot from St. Charles, Va., discusses the region’s declining population and its effect on housing. He shares the story of his efforts to salvage his grandparents’ front yard cement picnic table, which… Continued
Population decline and water runoff in southwest Virginia: Bonnie Blue
Howard Elliot III, grandson of Howard and Elsie Elliot from St. Charles, Va., elaborates on how steady population decline in southwest Virginia has created barriers to his work relocating rail lines. He names Bonnie Blue as a good example of… Continued
The Elliot’s in southwest Virginia today
Howard Elliot III, grandson of Howard and Elsie Elliot from St. Charles, Va., shares about his own work in the coal mining area of southwest Virginia 50 years later. Follow this link for access to the full-length interview. Recorded April… Continued
On the coal mining legacy of southwest Virginia
Howard Elliot III, grandson of Howard and Elsie Elliot from St. Charles, Va., discusses the coal mining legacy of southwest Virginia, namely in and around Big Stone Gap coalfield. He touches on various logistics of the work 50 years ago… Continued
More on local opposition to the Petros Clinic
Kate Bradley expands on the issues she explains are often characteristic of small, rural communities and how such things as ignorance and jealousy impeded their efforts to build a community clinic in Petros, Tenn. She describes a few specific examples… Continued
“We had to work with one hand and fight with the other”
Kate Bradley narrates the process by which Mountain Peoples Health Council (MPHC) acquired land to build the Petros Clinic. She describes the stiff political atmosphere in Nashville, where she went to plead her case before a judge, and explains why… Continued
On the Bradley’s motivation to organize a community clinic in Petros, Tenn.
Kate Bradley frames the initiative to organize a local health council and community clinic as a direct response to the Petros health fair’s preliminary identification of needs. She details early fundraising efforts, including Pat Kalmans’ key role in securing grant… Continued
Key players in the health fair and early days of the clinic in Petros, Tenn.
Caryl Carpenter, Rick Davidson, and Irwin Venick meet with Kate and J.W. Bradley to discuss the Petros health fair and community clinic. They list several of the early players involved with both, including Wanda and Gary Lang, Bob Hartmann, John… Continued
On core tenets of sustainability and the role of business planning in community organizing
Nancy Raybin delves into the core tenets of sustainability (such as governance, self-preservation, and long-term impact metrics) to further stress the value of bringing business planning to community organizing. Follow this link for access to the full-length interview. Recorded October… Continued
On the St. Charles Clinic’s economic model: “…it had to survive beyond the goodwill of volunteers”
Nancy Raybin describes the growth and development of the St. Charles Clinic over time. She provides insight about what distinguished this one from others in East Tennessee, with emphasis on the value of applying business principles and establishing an economic… Continued
Did we make a difference? Margaret Ecker and Rosie Hammond reflect.
Margaret Ecker and Rosie Hammond grapple with the question: did we (the SHC) make a difference? Margaret shares how, in reflection of Art Van Zee’s insight to ongoing addiction throughout southwest Virginia and the Appalachian region, there are new challenges… Continued
On miner’s limited access to health and/or legal support for Black Lung Disease management
John Kennedy describes the initial inundation of legal clinics with Black Lung cases, due largely to nonexistent dust control in underground mines and extremely limited access to physicians and lawyers who could help with disease management. He provides further insight… Continued
The challenges of traditional rural midwifery
Barbara Clinton explains what she learned of the challenges associated with midwifery in rural areas, traditionally known as granny midwives, and the Center’s resulting impetus to support local women with training and funding through the Maternal-Infant Health Outreach Worker Project… Continued
The role and impact of MIHOW outreach workers
Barbara Clinton frames the Maternal-Infant Health Outreach Worker Project (MIHOW) as a sustainability-driven next step to the care and relationships initiated by Coalition health fairs. She delineates the role outreach workers filled and the immense impact local women had on… Continued
Criteria for and selection process of outreach workers with MIHOW project
Barbara Clinton explains how partnerships between local community health clinics and the Center for Health Services (CHS) facilitated the development of the Maternal-Infant Health Outreach Worker Project (MIHOW). It was up to the community-run clinics to outline criteria for and… Continued
“Whites treated Whites and Blacks treated Blacks”
Sharon Roberson discusses her witness of racial segregation in rural West Tennessee healthcare (circa late 1970s), noting how said disparities severely limited access to healthcare for many in the area. Full footage of Sharon Roberson’s 2018 oral history interview. Continued
Sharon Roberson on systemic racism: then and now
Sharon Roberson reflects on her witness and personal experience of racism together with our ongoing culture of racism today, highlights the widespread mistrust of Medicaid expansion and Obamacare common among many people (largely due to politically-driven misinformation and propaganda), and… Continued
Differences between West and East TN core injustices and approach to community organizing
Sharon Roberson describes community organizing work over time and the growing tension that transpired among Vanderbilt students from one summer to the next, particularly in light of apartheid in South Africa and the ongoing domestic fight for civil rights. Many… Continued
Sharon Roberson on Black deference to White people in West Tennessee
Sharon Roberson describes an air conditioning situation in the Haywood County Public Health Services building which, to her surprise, highlighted how Black people, according to custom and engrained mentality, demonstrated deference to the White demographic. Full footage of Sharon… Continued
Decline of coal camp healthcare and subsequent basis of need for reform
Charles “Boomer” Winfrey and Maureen O’Connell discuss the local healthcare setting upon Save Our Cumberland Mountain’s (SOCM) and the Student Health Coalition’s (SHC) early stages of community organizing in East Tennessee. Maureen details several local factors which established a major… Continued
Square Morman’s sons on 1960s civil unrest and Tent City
Dana Ellis, a nurse and co-director of the West Tennessee Student Health Coalition, asks two of Square Morman’s sons what it was like in the early 1960s — from racial tensions to the development of “Tent City.” Recorded on June… Continued
SHC in Mud Creek, Kentucky
[Story contributed by Jack Beckford, with assistance from Sara Platt Williams] During the Fall of 1970, the SHC was contacted by the Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization (EKWRO), centered in Floyd Co, Ky. EKWRO was already doing organizing among low-income… Continued