The Power of One
The Power of One
Sister Anne Brooks and the Tutwiler Clinic
For thirty-four years Sister Anne Brooks, a Catholic nun and doctor of osteopathy, served one of the nation’s most impoverished towns and regions, Tutwiler, in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta. In 1983, she reopened the Tutwiler Clinic, which had remained closed for five years, as no other physician was willing to serve in Tallahatchie County. Starting with only two other nuns and regularly working twelve-hour days, Brooks’s patient load—in a region where seven out of ten patients that walked in her door had no way to pay for care—grew from thirty to forty individuals per month her first year to more than 8,500 annually.
Sally Palmer Thomason tells the powerful story of Sister Anne Brooks, beginning with her tumultuous childhood, the contracting and overcoming of crippling arthritis in early adulthood, and her near-unprecedented decision to attend medical school at the age of forty. Dr. Brooks’s remarkable dedication and accomplishments in caring for the health and well-being of both the individuals and the community of Tutwiler attracted ongoing attention and was often featured in national publications and media, including People magazine and 60 Minutes.
Thomason not only shares Brooks’s powerful story but reveals, through excerpts from journal entries, letters, and interviews, the intimate musings that connect Brooks’s faith in God to her profound compassion for others. Whether it is Brooks’s efforts to desegregate Tutwiler or provide free healthcare, her constant devotion to others is striking.
…Sister Anne Brooks has a story that needs to be heard not just by Catholics, but most everyone in these trying times. Highly recommended.
The Power of One is recommended for both public and academic libraries as an accessible, engaging biography of a woman who could ‘see the sun of justice rising’ in Mississippi.
Sally Palmer Thomason was born, raised, and educated in California but has lived in Memphis for over fifty years. She retired as the dean of continuing and corporate education at Rhodes College and has authored four books, including Delta Rainbow: The Irrepressible Betty Bobo Pearson, published by University Press of Mississippi. Jean Carter Fisher is a licensed clinical social worker at Lakeside Behavioral Health System in Memphis, Tennessee, and previously worked at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She contributed to Delta Rainbow: The Irrepressible Betty Bobo Pearson, published by University Press of Mississippi.
