Oral history interview with Evelyn Schmidt, February 9, 1999
Subtitle: interview K-0137, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Kaplan, Ann, interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women pediatricians; Women physicians; Medical centers; Social conditions; Poor; Medical care; Services for; African Americans; Latin Americans; Equality; Lincoln Community Health Center (Durham, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview K-0137, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Evelyn Schmidt, February 9, 1999; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Dr. Evelyn Schmidt left the South after earning her undergraduate and medical degrees at Duke University, convinced that her liberal political views alienated her from a racially and economically polarized region. When she returned in the early 1970s to head the Durham Community Medical Center, she found a city transformed by desegregation, but with a new set of challenges posed by enduring poverty and an influx of new immigration. In this interview, Schmidt shares her beliefs about the importance of providing access to health care, the need for preventive medicine, her fears about a rising uninsured population, and the challenges of bilingualism. As she discusses these issues she describes not only her philosophy but also the needs of a changing community and the connections between race, class, nationality, and health.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on March 6, 2008).

Interview participants: Evelyn Schmidt, interviewee; Ann Kaplan, interviewer.

Duration: 00:59:34.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 111.9 kilobytes, 109 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0137, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 32 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.