Transcribed
The Great Depression's Forgotten Epidemic: Pellagra and the Poor — Fexingo History
May 8, 2026 ·
7m 4s
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The Great Depression's Forgotten Epidemic: Pellagra and the Poor — Fexingo History
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Description
In the early 1930s, the American South was gripped by a hidden epidemic: pellagra, a gruesome nutritional disease caused by a deficiency of niacin. While the New Deal fought economic...
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In the early 1930s, the American South was gripped by a hidden epidemic: pellagra, a gruesome nutritional disease caused by a deficiency of niacin. While the New Deal fought economic collapse, this epidemic killed over 100,000 people, mostly poor sharecroppers and tenant farmers whose diets had been reduced to cornmeal, molasses, and fatback. This episode explores the work of Dr. Joseph Goldberger, a Hungarian-born physician who, a decade before the Depression, identified pellagra's cause through daring experiments on himself and Mississippi prisoners. We also cover the role of the Red Cross, the Rockefeller Foundation's hookworm campaign, and how the Tennessee Valley Authority's electrification brought refrigerators that improved diets. And we look at the 1927 Mississippi River flood, which displaced hundreds of thousands and made pellagra worse. Finally, we consider how New Deal agricultural policies inadvertently perpetuated the cash-crop system that caused the disease. A story of medical discovery, systemic poverty, and the forgotten toll of malnutrition.
#Pellagra #JosephGoldberger #GreatDepression #NewDeal #SouthernPoverty #NutritionalDisease #Sharecroppers #TenantFarmers #RedCross #RockefellerFoundation #Hookworm #TennesseeValleyAuthority #MississippiFlood1927 #CornmealDiet #NiacinDeficiency #HistoryOfMedicine #FexingoHistory #PublicHealth #DustBowl #StockMarketCrash
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#Pellagra #JosephGoldberger #GreatDepression #NewDeal #SouthernPoverty #NutritionalDisease #Sharecroppers #TenantFarmers #RedCross #RockefellerFoundation #Hookworm #TennesseeValleyAuthority #MississippiFlood1927 #CornmealDiet #NiacinDeficiency #HistoryOfMedicine #FexingoHistory #PublicHealth #DustBowl #StockMarketCrash
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-great-depression-the-economic-collapse-that-changed-politics-fexingo-history--6985372/support.
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