By: Patti McDonald
Amy M. Hay, an alumnus of the Department of History at Michigan State University and current Professor of History at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, was recently interviewed and featured in “Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal,” a PBS documentary centered around the compelling tale of the residents of a blue-collar community in Niagra Falls, New York in the late 1970s. The documentary features residents and scientists who uncovered that the Love Canal neighborhood was constructed on a former chemical waste disposal site after people in the area suffered from birth defects and other serious health problems.
“People had no idea they were living on top of 22,000 tons of toxic chemicals,” Hay said.
Hay, who has extensively studied the neighborhood’s turbulent history, emphasized the significance of being involved in the documentary.
“When I was contacted by the producers of the “Poisoned Ground” documentary, they mentioned they went through my dissertation, and when they asked me if I would come to New York to be interviewed, I was more than happy to do so.”
Hay specializes in research that is focused on grassroots health and environmental activism. She wrote her dissertation, “Recipe for Disaster: Chemical Wastes, Community Activists, and Public Health at Love Canal, 1945-2000,” as a graduate student and research assistant under MSU Professor of History Dr. Lisa Fine.
In addition to her dissertation, Hay has published several articles on the neighborhood, including “Everyone’s Backyard: The Love Canal Chemical Disaster,” in The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s History Now, and “Recipe for Disaster: Motherhood and Citizenship at Love Canal,” in the Journal of Women’s History.
“I was able to dig deeper and realize that while the women [who lived in the Love Canal neighborhood] were making this important protest, it was much more complex than that. I was able to examine the medical and public health workers too, as they were sort of dictating what would happen to these families in the neighborhood and the tension and conflict that arose between those two groups.”
Hay teaches 20th century United States history as well as women’s and gender studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her first book, The Defoliation of America: Chemicals, Citizens, and Protests, delves into the perspectives, insights, and driving forces of grassroots advocates who mobilized against the use of phenoxy herbicides, also known as Agent Orange chemicals, in the aftermath of World War II. Hay’s research explores the reactions of ordinary citizens, shedding light on how regulatory measures were perceived, contested, and navigated by them.
Her current research project focuses on medical and labor migrations to and from the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) in South Texas. Hay said she was motivated to research this subject where she currently lives because most medical migration research in the United States focuses on other parts of the country and earlier periods.
“My current research project examining medical migration to the Rio Grande Valley happened because I heard about ‘winter Texans’, people who came to the Valley to escape northern winters. I was already familiar with Michigan snowbirds, who mostly go to Florida. When I began researching, I realized no one has done any historical research on these kinds of internal health migrations. Plus, it was a local topic for me.”
Hay mentioned another important piece of her current research project includes studying Mexican Americans who work in the northern states, like Michigan, throughout the year and come home to Texas in the winter months.
“As I research this topic, I realized part of the story was part of the RGV’s Mexican American population who left the Valley as agricultural labor migrants and return home during the winter. I hope to show the ways a two-tier health system appeared, to help explain one way health inequities happen.”
Hay attributes her successful career as a historian to the guidance of her mentors and fellow graduate students at MSU.
“I had great mentors as a graduate student and took classes with some very smart people. I am still friends with many of those individuals and I am grateful for all the support I had. Graduate students were very supportive of each other, and I think that speaks well to the program.”
Dr. Amy M. Hay