Repository logo
 

"Dancing on eggs": Charles H. Bynum, racial politics, and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, 1938-1954.


Change log

Authors

Mawdsley, Stephen E 

Abstract

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his law partner Basil O'Connor formed the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) to battle the viral disease poliomyelitis. Although the NFIP program was purported to be available for all Americans irrespective of "race, creed, or color," officials encountered numerous difficulties upholding this pledge in a nation divided by race. In 1944, NFIP officials hired educator Charles H. Bynum to head a new department of "Negro Activities." Between 1944 and 1954, Bynum negotiated the NFIP bureaucracy to educate officials and influence their national health policy. As part of the NFIP team, he helped increase interracial fund-raising in the March of Dimes, improve polio treatment for black Americans, and further the civil rights movement.

Description

Keywords

Black or African American, History, 20th Century, Humans, Poliomyelitis, Prejudice, Public Health, Race Relations, United States, Voluntary Health Agencies

Journal Title

Bull Hist Med

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0007-5140
1086-3176

Volume Title

Publisher

Project MUSE
Sponsorship
Financial support for this article was provided by a Ph.D. fellowship from SSHRC as well as by studentships from the U.K. Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.