Kate Bradley and Marie Cirillo share some laughs thinking back to the effort Student Health Coalition (SHC) participants put toward demonstrating modesty and respect so as to cultivate relationships with community members. But sporting bowl cuts, long skirts, and duct-taped shoes humorously conveyed their perception by the community as “welfare kids”.
Kate and J.W. Bradley share sweet reflections of the friendships made during the Student Health Coalition’s (SHC’s) community organizing efforts in rural Tennessee, and explain that the organization’s leader, Bill Dow, gave them hope to change what they’d always been told they couldn’t.
Lewis Lefkowitz recalls what facilitated the Student Health Coalition’s (SHC’s) success. He discusses the organization’s framework of community mobilization and agency, and furthermore highlights the leadership legacy of Kate and J.W. Bradley. Recorded on December 1, 2015. Full footage of his recollection about the development of the Student Health Coalition in the 1960s and …
Lewis Lefkowitz on the Student Health Coalition’s key accomplishments Read More »
This interview with J.W. Bradley and Kate Bradley is a follow up to interview U-0803. J.W. Bradley was born in Petros, Tenn., a coalfield community in the Cumberlands. He served as deputy sheriff in Petros. He was one of the founding member of Save our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and the first president of the organization. …
Topics discussed in this interview with Kate Bradley and J.W. Bradley include: birth in Petros, Tenn.; life history overview; coal mining father; history of Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM); women’s role in SOCM; relationship of Vanderbilt University medical students; Student Health Coalition in 1969; Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); coal mining in Tennessee; foodways; fundraising; community …
SOCM began in 1971 under the leadership of J.W. Bradley, who sought fair taxation of absentee land corporations. They appealed to the Tennessee government, and won their first battle. Bolstered by their success, the organization then hoped to help local communities with other issues they encountered. These prominently included fighting against strip mining in the …
Sue C. Love participated in the Rural Student Health Coalition in the early 1970s as a medical worker and attended medical school at Vanderbilt University. At the same time, her future husband Cliff Love served as a community worker. Included are black-and-white photographs of a SHC meeting from the summer of 1972 at a cabin …
Records, correspondence, and printed material related to the involvement of J. W. Bradley with Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), an organization founded to support community issues arising from the increase in strip mining in Eastern Tennessee during the 1970s and 1980s. Materials in the collection include correspondence, legal documents, and printed material related to the …
J.W. and Kate Bradley Papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC Chapel Hill Read More »
[Story contributed by Perry Steele, 15 May 2017] I was finishing my sophomore year at Vanderbilt. Nixon hadn’t drafted me. For some reason Professor Scott suggested I could be a community organizer. Having no other plans for the summer, I was lucky enough to work with Kathy Stanley and Irwin Venick. Someone lent Kathy and …
[Story contributed by Angela Carroll Healy, M.D.] Dear All, Seeing the videos and reading the memories of other Coalitioners has made me want to share what working with the Student Health Coalition (SHC) meant to me. I was a Brooklyn girl, born and raised. I was a junior at New York University (in Manhattan—the farthest …