The Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Chan Medical School is hosting a National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit highlighting immigrants’ and migrants’ experiences with health care in the United States over 130 years.
Now through April 21, the exhibit, Outside/Inside: Immigration, Migration and Health Care in the United States, is on display in the library.
Six banners detail the important role immigration plays in U.S. history; the lack of access to public health immigrants face in the U.S.; the advent of immigrant health services; the evolution of access and inclusivity to health care in the 20th century; and the social movements started by immigrants and migrants to organize and stand up against exclusion, stigmatization and discrimination in health care.
“We are very excited to be hosting this exhibit,” said library director Mary Piorun, PhD, MBA, MSLS, associate professor of nursing. “Our goal is to draw members of our community into the library and for everyone to experience the library as a safe and welcoming place for study, reflection and learning, and where crucial conversations on today’s pressing health issues take place. The exhibit helps set the stage for this to happen.”
On April 6, the library hosted a discussion with Crista Johnson-Agbakwu, MD, executive director of the UMass Chan Collaborative in Health Equity and professor of obstetrics & gynecology, to coincide with the traveling exhibit. Dr. Johnson-Agbawku presented “Advancing Maternal Health Equity Among Migrant Communities.”
It was the first in-person event hosted by the library since 2020.
In conjunction with the NLM exhibit, the library is also coordinating several other related events this month, including a graphic novel book club. The club will read and discuss The Most Costly Journey, an anthology of stories of survival from Latin American migrant workers in Vermont. Registrants can pick up free copies of the graphic novel at the library and participate in one of two upcoming discussions on April 14 or April 20.
Additionally, recorded interviews with Worcester District Medical Society member physicians who have experience with the impact of immigration and migration on health care access are available online.
And an exhibit of selections from the library’s own collections on immigration and migration are on display in concurrence with the Outside/Inside exhibit.
