[Singing:] Oh, I know the Lord, I know the Lord/I know the Lord has laid his hands on me
[The National Tuberculosis Association cooperating with Tuskegee Institute, National Urban League]
[Works Progress Administration, U.S. Veterans Administration, presents]
[Let My People Live]
[Singing:] Oh, I can see him after death/I know the Lord has laid his hands on me
[Cast: Rex Ingram, Peggy Howard, Merritt Smith, Erostine Coles, Robert Anderson, Christine Johnson, Jackson Burnside]
[Choir: William L. Dawson]
[Directed by Edgar Ulmer, Dramatic Assistants: S.E. Walker, Edward Lawson, Camera: William Miller, Sound: Nelson Minnerly]
[Produced by Motion Picture Service Corporation, Variray Blue Seal Recording]
[Singing:] Oh, I know the Lord, I know the Lord/I know the Lord has laid his hands on me
[Dr. Gordon:] Before we go to our classes, I want to say as your student medical advisor, one final word about tuberculosis.
We, as Negros, seem to be particularly susceptible to this disease.
The reason is the great majority of our homes are poor, and our work hard. And we don't have money to get treated when we should.
Now, if you have any of the symptoms of tuberculosis, such as coughing, unusual fatigue, a loss of weight,
go at once to a physician for an examination.
Tuberculosis can be cured, but only if treatment is started soon enough.
[Man 1:] Thank you Dr. Gordon. Thus we close our Negro Health Week Service.
[Singing]
[George:] Hello?
[Mary:] Hello George? This is Mary. Yes, your sister.
George, Mama's very sick. The doctor says you'd better come right home.
[Singing]
[Man 2:] What's the matter?
[George:] My mother's very sick. She has tuberculosis. She's had it for years.
But she'd never see a doctor. I have to go home.
[Man 2:] Will this help you?
[George:] Thanks. I won't forget this.
[Singing:] Tell old Pharoah/Let my people go/
Swing low, sweet chariot/Coming for to carry me home/[Singing]
Swing low, sweet chariot
[Mary:] George![Singing:] Coming for to carry me home
[Mary:] George![George:] Mary!
[Singing:] ...what did I see/Coming for to carry me home/
A band of angels coming after me/Coming for to carry me home
[Bell ringing][Singing:] Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee/
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me
[Reverend Jenkins:] The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
[Singing:] ...all my song shall be/Nearer...
[Reverend Jenkins:] The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. But oh Lord, let my people live.
Come in, sister.
[Mary:] It's about Mama, Reverend Jenkins.
[Reverend Jenkins:] She was a good woman, Miss Baxter.
[Mary:] She had tuberculosis. Consumption, she called it.
I'm scared, Reverend Jenkins. They say it runs in the family.
If Mama had... then I have it too.
[Reverend Jenkins:] No. I don't know that it mean that at all.
Some people think that tuberculosis can be passed down from mother to child. That's not true.
I'm not a doctor, but I've read a lot about tuberculosis.
It comes from a germ, and it's passed along by contact of one person with another.
[Mary:] But I have the same symptoms Mama had. I have a cough, I feel tired like she did all the time, and I can't eat.
[Reverend Jenkins:] That's not so good.
[Mary:] But what can I do?
[Reverend Jenkins:] You be smart! You go to see a doctor. If you can't afford that, go to a clinic.
The doctor will test you and tell you whether or not you have tuberculosis.
If he says no, that's fine. If he says yes, do exactly what he tells you.
But don't let anyone tell you that tuberculosis can't be cured.
[Mary:] All right. I'll go to see Dr. Gordon tomorrow. Good evening, Reverend Jenkins. Thank you.
[Minnie:] Hello, Mary! Where are you going?
[Mary:] To Dr. Gordon's.
[Minnie:] Mm-hmm. I know'd it. You got the same thing your mother had ain't you?
[Mary:] I'm not sure, Minnie. I've got to find out.
[Minnie:] Listen, honey. Ain't no use of you fooling yourself. You know you got it.
[Mary:] Well I have to get treated.
[Minnie:] Oh, you're going in there? Ha! Girl, aint no doctor in the world can cure you of no tuberculosis.
[Mary:] Well who can?
[Minnie:] My grandma can.
You see, uh, she makes this special kind of a tea out of herbs and roots and stuff, and 'fore you know it, old consumption's gone.
And she don't charge half as much as this doctor does, neither.
[Mary:] My mother believed in that. Roots, herbs, and teas.
I've got to see Dr. Gordon.[Minnie:] Oh, come on, girl!
[Mary:] I'm getting better, George. Dr. Gordon said I was so sensible to come to see him so early.
George, how about you? Of course you weren't with Mama as much as I was, but you might have caught it too.
[George:] Oh, I'm all right.
[Mary:] You may feel all right. George, why don't you run over and let Dr. Gordon look you over. He's a real doctor.
Promise me you will.
[George:] Well, maybe I will.
[Cough]
[Cough]
[Cough]
[Dr. Gordon:] Well, I don't hear anything. But we aren't through yet. Sit down, young man.
[George:] What's that for, doctor?
[Dr. Gordon:] I'm going to put a drop of this solution into your arm. It's called tuberculin.
Now, in two days, if the spot where I make the injection is raised and reddened,
it means that at one time in your life, tuberculosis germs got into your body.
[George:] Oh, it didn't hurt a bit, doc.
How does it look, doctor?
[Dr. Gordon:] Hmm. Positive.
[George:] Does that mean I have tuberculosis?
[Dr. Gordon:] No, but I'm going to send you to a hospital to have an x-ray made.
Here's a picture of your chest.
Now, that spot there is what we call a primary tubercle. It means that the germs got into your lungs at one time, maybe long ago.
But you were healthy, and your body took care of it.
[George:] Gee, I'm glad to hear that!
[Dr. Gordon:] What you've got to do now is to keep your good health.
Don't use up too much of your energy either in work or play, or staying out late at night.
Eat well-balanced meals, and get plenty of fresh air.
If the danger sign of fatigue, coughing, loss of weight, or pains in the chest appear, don't fail to come in and see me.
[George:] Thanks doctor! I'm certainly glad to know I haven't got it.
Oh, how is Mary getting along?
[Dr. Gordon:] Well, she's getting the very best of care at the sanatorium, and she'll be well pretty soon now.
[George:] Gee.That's swell.
[Dr. Gordon:] Now you see why it's so important that tuberculosis be discovered early.
Every young person from fifteen to 25 should have a tuberculin test and an x-ray.
You see, they may find, as you did, that they need only rest and care.
Or they may find that their lungs, like your sister's, need treatment right away.
The quicker they know and the sooner they get treated, the better their chances are to get well.
This is especially true of our race. Many of us wait too long before starting treatment.
We must teach our people that tuberculosis is curable.
And we must show them that every person with tuberculosis is a menace to his family if his case isn't put under a doctor at once.
[George:] Thanks, doctor. You make me see things in a different light.
[Singing:] ...ever and ever/Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/
And Lord of lords/For ever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/
King of kings!/For ever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/
And Lord of lords...
[Mary:] I feel as though I were right there.
[Woman:] It's too bad Mary you couldn't go down to see George graduate.
But just think how lucky you are. You are well and have a good job.
[Mary:] Yes.
I wish Mama were here.
I almost think I hear George's voice.
[Singing:] King of kings/For ever, and ever/
And Lord of lords/Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/
And he shall reign for ever and ever and ever/
King of kings and Lord of lords/
And he shall reign for ever and ever/
King of kings, and Lord of Lords/Forever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/Hallelujah! Hallelujah!/
Hallelujah!
[The End]