Fight Against Polio -- George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskegee Institute NHS, Tuskegee AL
N 32° 25.776 W 085° 42.402
16S E 621591 N 3588791
A grim reminder of the decades before vaccines, an exhibit at the George Washington Carver Museum of the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in Tuskegee AL recalls the Tuskegee Infantile Paralyis Unit
Waymark Code: WMWHHE
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2017
Views: 1
In a segregated society, the Tuskegee Infantile Paralyis Unit treated African-American children struck down by a disease that didn't discriminate at all.
The sign reads as follows:
"Doctor Carver found many uses for peanut oil, including a cure for infantile paralysis, or polio. Although research later found that the massage, not the peanut oil was responsible for the recovery, many Blacks came to Tuskegee Institute, not only because it was a major provider of healthcare for Blacks in the region but also to seek Doctor Carver's miracle cure.
Infantile paralysis or poliomyelitis, was a national epidemic in patients needed facilities not only for treatment, but also for long-term care, therapy and sometimes surgery.
Doctor Carver's research, along with the efforts of Doctor Frederick D. Patterson, then President of Tuskegee Institute, the John A. Andrew Memorial Clinical Society, as well as Basil O'Connor, chairman of the March of Dimes Foundation and Chairman of the Tuskegee Institute Board of Trustees, help secure funding for the polio unit at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital at Tuskegee Institute."
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Tuskegee University George Washington Carver Museum Tuskegee, AL
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