A Doctor for Rural America: The Reforms of Frances Sage Bradley

by Barbara Barksdale Clowse

Overview

Dr. Frances Sage Bradley (1862–1949) was a mediating force between the urban world of her own education and experience, and that of rural Americans. As a widow with four young children, Bradley trained as a doctor and became one of the first women to graduate from Cornell University Medical School. During the height of the Progressive Era, she left her private practice to do significant field work for the newly-created Children's Bureau, working mainly in the Appalachian South.

In this timely biography, Barbara Barksdale Clowse details the story of this physician, reformer, and writer, and her efforts to extend access to healthcare to rural communities. Clowse describes Bradley's important innovations in the field of public health, including physical exams or "conferences" for children and infants which simultaneously educated parents and local medical practitioners, and her advocacy for improved nutrition and modern medicine in rural areas. Finally, Clowse illustrates how Bradley's work regarding maternal mortality and morbidity in America was instrumental in demonstrating the need for what became the Sheppard–Towner Act of 1921, also known as the Maternity and Infancy Protection Act.

A century has passed since Bradley lived out her commitment to social justice in healthcare, yet many of the issues that she faced still plague the United States today. A Doctor for Rural America presents a balanced portrait of an overlooked pioneer and her work to establish healthcare as an obligation that the government owed to its citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813179803
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	10/15/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Barbara Barksdale Clowse is a former professor of history at both UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State. She is the author of Brainpower for the Cold War: The Sputnik Crisis and National Defense Education Act of 1958, Ralph McGill: A Biography, and Women, Decision Making, and the Future. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. 1862-1896: Outliving Loss
2. 1896-1900: Metamorphosis
3. 1900-1915: "A Damn Yankee Down in Dixie"
4. 1916: "Oh, I Am So Glad to Have Had This Work!"
5. 1917-1918: Shadows of War
6. 1918-1919: Deadly Interval
7. 1919-1921: Traveling aboard "The Special"
8. 1921-1922: Denouement
9. 1922-1923: Arkansas Bureaucrat
10. 1923-1925: A Fresh Start
11. 1925-1928: Reform Blighted
12. 1928-1929: Reckoning
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliiography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Barbara Clowse's readable and engaging biography makes an important contribution to the history of Progressive Era, women's activism, Southern reform, Appalachian history, and the history of healthcare reform. I was quickly pulled into Bradley's fascinating and adventurous life story." — Penny Messinger, associate professor of history at Daemen College

"Barbara Barksdale Clowse knows her subject well and makes excellent use of the primary documents available." — Connie Park Rice, coeditor of Women of the Mountain South: Identity, Work, and Activism

Editorial Reviews

Barbara Barksdale Clowse knows her subject well and makes excellent use of the primary documents available.

Connie Park Rice

Barbara Clowse's readable and engaging biography makes an important contribution to the history of Progressive Era, women's activism, Southern reform, Appalachian history, and the history of healthcare reform. I was quickly pulled into Bradley's fascinating and adventurous life story.

Penny Messinger

"Barbara Clowse's readable and engaging biography makes an important contribution to the history of Progressive Era, women's activism, Southern reform, Appalachian history, and the history of healthcare reform. I was quickly pulled into Bradley's fascinating and adventurous life story." — Penny Messinger, associate professor of history at Daemen College

"Barbara Barksdale Clowse knows her subject well and makes excellent use of the primary documents available." — Connie Park Rice, coeditor of Women of the Mountain South: Identity, Work, and Activism

From the Publisher