Eula Hall, health care leader and self described “hillbilly activist,” spent a lifetime assisting her Eastern Kentucky neighbors and encouraging poor people to fight for their rights. After passing away on May 8 at age 93, she was lauded in her native Floyd County, by a Kentucky Congressman and Senator, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Longtime friends Steve Brooks and Maxine Kenny recall experiences with Eula that began when they came to Eastern Kentucky in the late 1960s and early 70s and worked with her to get the Mud Creek Clinic started, and to address other injustices that poor people were facing at that time. That’s followed by a 2013 interview with Eula at an Appalshop book signing event for “Mud Creek Clinic: The Life of Eula Hall and the Fight for Appalachia” by Kiran Bhatraju. Also featured is an interview with labor historian Chuck Keeney, the author of a new history on West Virginia’s Battle of Blair Mountain, now in its centennial year. This story comes to us from Appalach-America, a new podcast produced by the Ohio Valley ReSource and Louisville Public Media.
May 27, 2021