"Carville, the Landscape of Stigma" -- A Public Program at the NMHM
Elizabeth Schexnyder, curator of the National Hansen's Disease Museum, visited the Museum in late August to see our temporary 'Triumph at Carville' exhibit and offered an engaging conversation on the significance of the social response to leprosy in the development of the National Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana. She described the process of "othering" human beings diagnosed with leprosy and how other socio-historical factors affecting the disease stigma shaped the unique landscape--both social and physical--of the National Leprosarium.
Schexnyder described her experiences in talking with visitors of the National Hansen's Disease Museum, which is located in a remote area on the Mississippi River, about 12 miles from Baton Rouge, LA. She said that visitors (who have to make a real effort to get to Carville) are often reluctant to share why they have made a trip to the museum. After touring the museum and facilities, these visitors sometimes confess they are visiting Carville because a relative was once a patient of the leprosarium. She said these families are still affected by the stigma associated with leprosy--many times visits to Carville help them come to terms with the shame associated with having a family member once diagnosed with the disease.
Schexnyder also shared the stories of the Coca-Cola bottle-lined gardens of Carville. At a time when the Coca Cola distributors were still delivering cases of their soda in glass bottles and offering a refund for returned bottles, the manager of the Baton Rouge distribution center, who was known as a "leprophobe," refused to deliver Coke to Carville. He was afraid that he would lose business from customers in other towns who might find out that he was recycling Coke bottles that had been used by patients with leprosy. After pressure by veterans groups, the distributor decided to save chipped and damaged bottles and send Carville residents Coke in bottles that could not be re-used by the distributor. All of the Coke bottles sent to Carville stayed at Carville. The patients decided to use the empty Coke bottles as edging for their gardens, which resulted in a creative and beautiful display. Pepsi decided that in order to get Carville's business, in addition to supplying Pepsi products to Carville, they would give refunds for both Pepsi AND Coke bottles. As a result, within a couple of days, all of the Coke bottles were dug up from the gardens and sold back to Pepsi.
For more information about Hansen's Disease and the museum at Carville, visit http://www.hrsa.gov/hansens/museum/default.htm.
For a virtual tour of Carville (1950s), visit http://www.hrsa.gov/hansens/museum/tour-carville.htm.
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