The unknown story of the only leprosy

colony in the continental United States,

and the thousands of Americans who

were exiled―hidden away with their

“shameful” disease.

Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans,

the Mississippi River curls around an old

plantation thick with trees, with a stately

white manor house at its heart. Locals

knew it as Carville―the site of the only

leprosarium in the continental United

States from 1894 until 1999, where

generations of afflicted Americans were

isolated, often until death. While experts

today know that leprosy is not nearly as

contagious as once feared, there remains

a virulent stigma around those who suffer

from it.

Pam Fessler tells the story of Carville’s

patients against the backdrop of America’s

slowly shifting attitudes toward those cast

aside as “others.” She also reveals how

patients rallied together with an unlikely

team of nuns, researchers, and doctors to

find a cure for the disease, and to fight the

insidious stigma that surrounded it. With

original interviews and newly discovered

archival material, Fessler presents an

essential history of one of America’s most

shameful secrets.