National Negro Health Week. Twenty-Eighth Observance . . . [Cover title]

Washington, D.C.: United States Public Health Service, 1942. Good +. 12” x 9”. Bifolium, printed all four sides. Pp. [4]. Good plus: moderately worn and creased with several faint ink splotches and a few tiny tears at edges.

This is an uncommon, heavily illustrated promotional urging the observance of National Negro Health Week (NNHW).

NNHW was initiated by Booker T. Washington in 1915 shortly before his death and continued by Tuskegee’s next president, Robert Moton. By the 1920s NNHW had partnered with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) in order to educate Black communities on the importance of sanitation, provide (truncated) greater access to healthcare and increase the numbers of African American public health providers. In 1950, USPHS merged NNHW with programs intended for white citizens, beginning National Public Health Week, which continues to this day.

This pamphlet promotes the “special objective” for NNHW 1942: “Opportunities in the National Defense Program for Improvement of Community Health.” Along with a cover illustration and quote of Booker T. Washington, it contains ten photographic images revealing the efforts of African Americans around the country. We see the Black patient, doctor and nurse “Checking Up” at the D.C. Health Department, “everyday service” at Tuskegee's hospital, Virginians “broadcasting health information” through “radio, press, forum, pulpit” and schoolchildren demonstrating “good health and citizenship” in Leon County, Florida. One great sketch identifies tiny portraits of the members of the Fort Worth, Texas-based Volunteer Health League. The book also provides tips on community organizing and suggests activities for each day's focus, such as Home Health Day and Community Sanitation Day.

A fantastic promotion for an important African American healthcare initiative. OCLC shows four holdings. (Inventory #: 8385)