Thomas Lindahl Robinson

Stories From America: America's Last Colony

  • Zella Brown was born in Denham Springs, Louisiana on May 12, 1914. She was diagnosed with the tuberculoid type of Hansen's Disease (leprosy) at age 14. Her home became the Gillis W. Long Center of Hansen's Disease, or better known as Carville. One of her greatest attributes was her faith and love of community through her church in Denham Springs where she attended church services for years. In her later years, the pastor would visit her at Carville to support her with uplifting prayer and spiritual sessions. When photojournalists would visit, she loved having her picture taken, regardless of how famous they were. Zella always told them how and where to take her photo, as she states, {quote}Because this one time this man photographer came to shoot my picture and it was very good.{quote}
  • Sister Nina, A Daughter of Charity, sits for her portrait.
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  • Rachel Pendleton expresses her anger and frustration of being incarcerated as she explains in a Life Magazine article, written by Johnathan Silvers. {quote}I was kidnapped on March 16, 1949. I was yanked from my parents' arms. A nurse pushed them away, and she and a deputy sheriff took me to Carville. I was 14. I had some nodules on my face and my ears that the Texas Department of Health diagnosed as leprosy. They wanted me out of the state. My parents were poor, so they couldn't do anything about it except cry. How do you do this to a child--to anyone? I hate this place with a passion. There is no reason for it to exist. It stole my life from me--my youth, my liberty, the love of my mother and my father, the fellowship of my brothers and sisters. I'll never forgive them for that.{quote}
  • Jack Pendleton sits in his house expressing his anger and frustration over his incarceration at the Louisiana Leper Home.
  • Worker at Carville poses for his portrait while on a cigarette break.
  • Dr. Clemens, who lives on the grounds of the Leper Colony, walks a few minutes to his office to begin his day.
  • One of the many corridors connecting Carville's residents to their apartments, facilities, and main hospital.
  • Betty Martin rides her bike through the long breezeways and corridors at Carville.
  • The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul sit in their lazy-boy chairs, while reading excerpts of the bible together. In 1894, Dr. Isadore Dyer established the facility in Carville, and arranged a contract with the Daughters of Charity, who have served at the New Orleans Charity Hospital for 60 years, to provide the new facility with nursing services and domestic managment. In 1896, the first four sisters arrived to up their duties at Carville, beginning a tradition that continues to the present.
  • Sister Nina, a Daughter of Charity, sits in her room praying.
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  • John Harmon, a resident and a patient at Carville, tells me stories about his life, his adventures as a young man, and the days when he used to be a photographer. He said life with leprosy was to overwhelming on the outside.
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  • Tendon transfer surgery is a type of hand surgery that is performed in order to improve lost hand function. A functioning tendon is shifted from its original attachment to a new one to restore the action that has been lost. Tendon transfer surgery is necessary when a certain muscle function is lost because of a nerve injury. If a nerve is injured and cannot be repaired, then the nerve no longer sends signals to certain muscles. Those muscles are paralyzed and their muscle function is lost. Tendon transfer surgery can be used to attempt to replace that function.
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  • Andrew was incarcerated at the Leper Colony located in the remote nothern peninsula of Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii. Andrew explains, with the assistance of his family, how he had to ask permission to place a request of transfer from Kalaupapa to a hospital in Honolulu. Once there, he was able to place a second request of transfer from Honolulu to Los Angeles, California, and eventually being able to live his with daughter in the San Francisco, Bay Area. Patients were incarcerated in Kalaupapa from 1866 to 1969. This facility is associated with the work of Father Damien; whose life and death among his people focused the attention of the world on the problem of this disease and the plight of its victims.
  • Two residents at Carville, enjoy the warmth of the afternoon sun, conversation about what once was, and a cigarette.
  • Two residents at Carville, enjoy the warmth of the afternoon sun, conversation about what once was, and a cigarette.
  • An incarcerated patient living with Hansen's disease, holds up a photograph of his daughter's quinceanera celebration. The other photos scattered on his bed, are photographs of his family and the days he was living another life.
  • Betty Martin sitting for her portrait in her room, explaining her personal history and the stigma of Hansen’s disease; she explains that her birth name was Edwina Parra, and changed her name to protect her family from the stigma of Leprosy. She was diagnosed with the disease in 1929 at the age of 19; the year she was incarcerated to the Louisiana Leper Home. She is the author of two books, {quote}Miracle at Carville,{quote} published in 1951, and a sequel, {quote}No One Must Ever Know,{quote} published in 1959.
  • Betty Martin, the author of, {quote}Miracle at Carville,{quote} rides her bike down the corridors of the Louisiana Leper Home.
  • Residents of Carville, infected with the leprae virus, are playing pool.
  • Nurse Denise Brasseauef tends to a patient who has been affected by bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, which effects the nerve endings, leaving the muscles in a state of paralysis.
  • Nurse Denise Brasseauef bandages a patients wound. If left untreated, it could become further infected causing more serious consequences such as amputation.
  • A worker at Carville, shapes and design shoes for each patient's needs to help further protect their feet from injury or further infection.
  • Ida Carver, Nancy Batista, and a Daughter of Charity, who use to provide care for the residents at Carville, return for the Gillis W. Long Center for Hansen's Disease centennial celebration.
  • Nancy Batista, a former resident at Carville, pays her respects to her friends' final resting place.
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  • The road that leads to the gate to board the Ferry, in and out of Carville, which crosses the mighty Mississippi; what lies on the other side are all the glorious relics from our American past--plantations, battlefields, and chemical plants--our legacy in all its splendor.
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