Advancing the Knowledge of Public Health and Poverty in North Carolina through Oral History Interviews

Abstract

Although several U.S. advances in public health began in North Carolina (NC), the state has long faced many social and physical challenges that contributed to a high incidence of disease. This is particularly true in the eastern and western counties which have been among the most rural and impoverished parts of the state. A regional public health supervisor conducted about 15 oral history interviews on audiocassettes with veteran NC public health workers from 1988 to 1995. He later donated his collection to East Carolina University’s (ECU) Laupus Health Sciences Library, which serves the Brody School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health. Soon, this department will become the School of Rural Public Health. These and other oral histories were examined for stories about challenges that contributed to disease and ways practitioners worked to improve public health.