World Leprosy Day Panel

302 A Jefferson Street,Lafayette LA 70501

29 January, 2023

Description

For more than 100 years the National Leprosarium in Carville was a residence and community  for those diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease. Anne Brett, Marcia Gaudet, and Claire Manes will reflect on their personal experiences and research about residents of the hospital. Marcia Gaudet, Ph.D, author of Carville Remembering Leprosy in America, is Professor Emerita at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. During her tenure at the university, she was active in both the American and Louisiana Folklore Society. Two important areas of research for Dr. Gaudet were the lives and stories of Hansen’s disease patients at Carville and the life and work of Dr. Ernest Gaines. In the case of the latter she has written, co-written, and edited several works on Ernest Gaines and was instrumental in the creation of the Ernest Gaines Center at the Edith Garland Dupuis library at ULL. Anne Harmon Brett, a graduate of LSU’s School of Journalism, is the author of THE DISEASE, One Man’s Journey Through a Life with Leprosy. The book based on her father’s memoirs, King of the Microbes, is enhanced by Anne’s experiences of her family’s life in Carville. This book speaks of one person’s struggle to live a normal life with one of the most feared diseases in the world. Anne’s connection to Carville led her to begin the group Friends of Carville Historic District which is comprised of former family members who were afflicted with leprosy, staff members who worked at Carville and persons interested in learning more about leprosy, now called Hansen’s Disease. Claire Manes, a retired educator, is the author of Out of the Shadow of Leprosy: the Carville Letters and Stories of the Landry Family. Her interest in Carville, Hansen’s disease, and this work was inspired by her lifelong search for her grandfather who died in the Carville leprosarium thirteen years before she was born. She continues her passion for shedding the truth on Hansen’s disease as a member of the Friends of Carville Historic District and a member of the editorial board of The Star the international publication begun more than 80 years ago in Carville, La.