Abstract:
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mr. Tom Pearsall was elected in at the beginning of 1947. He was adamant about instituting a health program not for the state but limited to his personal estate. Pearsall was in charge of M. C. Braswell Farms, an expansive estate which stretched 22,000 acres between Nash and Edgecombe County. The farm was run by 900 individuals, mostly African Americans, and to ward off disease and illness Pearsall insisted on preventive health procedures, like chest X-rays to check for tuberculosis.