Malaria Control in Tennessee, 1930-1940

Navigation Menu+

About this Exhibit

America in the 1930s is best remembered for the Great Depression, a time when poverty and unemployment skyrocketed. Somber images of demoralized men standing in long lines outside of food banks, or pictures of worn-out barns barely standing upright against a rural backdrop might come to mind. Millions of Americans had their lives upended by this economic crisis. To fight the Depression and bring widespread, multifaceted poverty relief to Americans, the Roosevelt administration enacted The New Deal in 1933. The New Deal consisted of multiple social and economic reforms, one of which was the Tennessee Valley Authority, or the TVA. The TVA was created to modernize the rural South by bringing hydroelectric power to the region. This would involve the construction of multiple dams along the Tennessee River, in turn creating thousands of jobs. The TVA has a lesser-known project, though; it spearheaded malaria control projects. Malaria was endemic in the South in the 1920s and 1930s, but by the early 1940s, malaria rates had declined drastically in the Tennessee Valley region. The TVA effectively brought the eradication of malaria in the South by the 1950s.This virtual exhibit will explore the details of the TVA’s malaria control activities, including leadership, methods, and public health reports.

Dr. Bishop’s Lasker Award

Creator Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation

Contributor Eugene L. Bishop

Date 1950

Description

Dr. Bishop was selected as the winner for the 1950 Lasker Award for Public Service as recognition for his advancement of the field of public health administration in Tennessee. According to the Lasker Foundation website: “As director of Health and Safety of the Tennessee Valley Authority, he has made further important advances in a broad program in which the study and engineering control of impounded waters to reduce endemic malaria is recognized as a brilliant contribution.” Dr. Bishop was a groundbreaking leader for the TVA, but his career in the public health field stretched beyond that. This award also recognizes his public health administration advancements he made as Commissioner for the Tennessee State Health Department in the decade before he joined the TVA.

Source Medical Artifacts Collection, History of Medicine Collections, Vanderbilt University Libraries