The author of Carville's Cure speaks virtually on Thurs., Sept. 3rd, at 5 p.m. (EDT)!
Please join us on Thursday, September 3, at 5 p.m., for a 2020 Virtual History Book Festival “Spirited Discussion” with Pam Fessler, author of Carville’s Cure: Leprosy, Stigma, and the Fight for Justice (Liveright, 2020). Fessler will be interviewed by Steve Drummond. This event is free, but registration is required.
About the book
An old sugar plantation in Louisiana, called Carville by locals, was the site of the only leprosy colony in the continental United States, where generations of afflicted Americans were isolated — often against their will and until their deaths. Amid widespread public anxiety about foreign contamination and contagion, patients were deprived of basic rights and shunned by those outside. This is the story of the patients, nurses, doctors, and researchers at Carville who struggled for over a century to eradicate Hansen’s disease, the modern name for leprosy.
About the author
Pam Fessler is a national correspondent with NPR News, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting. This is her first book, written after she discovered an unexpected family connection to Carville. Steve Drummond will interview Fessler during the event. Drummond is the executive producer of the NPR podcast about race, "Code Switch," and of NPR’s education reporting project, NPR Ed.
Sponsored by the Virtual History Book Festival in Lewes, Delaware. Click here to register.
