Educational Media Reviews Online

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, caused mass hysteria in America from the 1920s to the late 1950s. People of all ages and races were quarantined in a leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana. Secret People: the Naked Face of Leprosy in America tells their story.

Through interviews with some of its residents we get a glimpse of what it was like to have leprosy and to be at Carville. The people sent there formed their own community in order to have a sense of home despite being stripped of rights we take for granted. The accounts of life at Carville and what it was like to have leprosy allow us to see, hear and feel what it must have been like to be a patient.

The interviews meshed with newspaper clips, movie clips and illustrations provide a candid and occasionally humorous view of the years before leprosy was treatable by medication. The film discusses the biblical references to the disease, which often grouped any number of medical problems under the banner of leprosy. The myths and realities of the disease are examined throughout the film.

The producers have done an incredible job of conveying what it was like to have leprosy. The piece is well researched and powerfully delivered. The choice of pictures of the disease provided ample visuals while not being overly gory.

Secret People is highly recommended for medical and academic libraries.