Two Minnesota history documentaries: 'Sister Kenny and the Polio Epidemic' and 'No Jews Allowed'
Part 1: MPR documentary “Sister Kenny and the Polio Epidemic” — an exploration of Sister Elizabeth Kenny’s work and legacy.
In 1946, the Minnesota State Fair was canceled. The reason was polio. As with the canceled 2020 State Fair during the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials worried large gatherings helped spread the disease. Polio was crippling thousands and there was no known cure or prevention. Through the 1940s and early 50s, polio struck 15,000 Minnesotans — 900 died.
Many were consigned to a life with metal braces, crutches and deformed limbs until Elizabeth Kenny arrived. The single-minded, self-taught nurse from Australia had a treatment that got paralyzed polio victims up and walking. She made Minnesota her home. Kenny emerged from obscurity and became America's most admired woman. Her remarkable story has few parallels in medical history.
Sister Elizabeth Kenny discovered a revolutionary treatment for infantile paralysis and devoted her life to the dissemination of the treatment throughout the United States and abroad. After doctors on the east and west coasts dismissed her ideas, Kenny came to Minnesota in 1940. She worked with doctors at Mayo Clinic and in Minneapolis and opened the Sister Kenny Institute in 1942.
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She went against traditional treatments for polio and urged that the stricken limbs be exercised. This procedure opened the modern-day era of rehabilitation medicine and physical therapy.
This documentary was produced in 2002 by MPR reporter Dan Olson.
Part 2: “No Jews Allowed,” an MPR documentary about antisemitism in Minneapolis in the 1930s and 1940s.
Back then, Minneapolis enjoyed the dubious distinction of being one of the most antisemitic cities in America. A report from the Anti-Defamation League says antisemitic incidents in the U.S. reached a record high last year — the largest number of incidents since the Jewish civil rights organization began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.
The MPR documentary “No Jews Allowed” was produced in 1992 by Beth Friend and John Biewen and narrated by Beth Friend.
Click the audio players above to listen to the documentaries.