Closed: Quarantine in Underserved Communities

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Overview:

A “pandemic” is defined as a disease that spans the globe. In recent weeks Covid-19 or the Coronavirus has caused schools, businesses and even entire cities to close their doors for fear of contracting the deadly disease but it is not the first pandemic, not by a long shot.

The Antonine Plague wiped out nearly 5 million people while the Spanish Flu in the 1920’s impacted the world as well, and that’s not to mention the AIDS crisis that continues to rage on, nearly 30 years after it received its official name in the 1980’s. And with pandemic, there comes quarantine and other measures to keep the spread of the disease under control.

“The 1878 yellow fever epidemic illustrates the impact of southern racial ideology and race relations on public health. When yellow fever struck a town, the wealthy white inhabitants left, abandoning the city and its epidemic to the poor, many of whom were black. For example, when the 1878 epidemic struck New Orleans, panic caused 40,000 of the 211,000 inhabitants to leave. Three out of four white people left the city, leaving behind most African Americans, who accounted for 70 percent of the remaining residents. (Smith, p. 7, 1995)


Your objective is to review how African-American communities responded in past epidemics and respond in a modern capacity.

• Write a letter to your teacher detailing what it is like to be in quarantine during the Covid-19 school closure. Reference the letters from students in WWI to their teacher.
• Read about the establishment of National Negro Health Week. Create a proposal for a similar initiative that addresses the specific needs of an underserved community in your city.

What information would be available?
What activities or workshops should be available?
What organizations should you partner with to make the event a success?

Readings: (If asked for a password in Galileo use “replica”)

Gamble, Vanessa Northington. “‘There Wasnt a Lot of Comforts in Those Days:’ African Americans, Public Health, and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic.” Public Health Reports, vol. 125, no. 3_suppl, 2010, pp. 113–122., doi:10.1177/00333549101250s314.

Gilmer, Maureen C. “WWI Comes Alive in Letters from Children.” Indianapolis Star, IndyStar, 2 Feb. 2017, www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/02/02/wwi-comes-alive-letters-indy-children/97033196/.

Immel, Mary Blair. Giant Steps: Suffragettes and Soldiers. Indiana Historical Society Press, 2017, https://books.google.com/books?id=CQjIDgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA171&ots=3ULfxLgEX2&dq=Student letters to Irven Armstrong, 7 November 1918&pg=PA171#v=onepage&q=Student letters to Irven Armstrong, 7 November 1918&f=false.

Smith, Susan Lynn. Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired : Black Women’s Health Activism in America, 1890-1950. [Electronic Resource]. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06725a&AN=pqe.9913723952002931&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Walker, Tiffany. “‘National Negro Health Week’: 1915 to 1951.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2016/03/29/national-negro-health-week-1915-to-1951/.