The Black History of Public Health in Philadelphia

HIST 055/BLST/GNST | Monday, 12:15-3:00

Elise Mitchell, Swarthmore College

How have Black Philadelphians contended with public health crises and sought to redress racial health disparities? Together, we will explore this question and more to learn about the intergenerational struggles Black people have engaged in as they employed public health concepts and redressed gaps in government-supported public health initiatives over generations. The course beMonday,Elisgins with students mapping the current public health landscape in Philadelphia and the components of it designed specifically to meet the needs of Black communities. Working backwards, we will then study Black community members’ responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic, responses to gun violence and drug use, and the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As we continue moving in a reverse chronology, we will also address the history of the Black Panthers’ free clinics in Philadelphia, the founding of the Black Cross Nurses, Black community members’ responses to tuberculosis, networks of nineteenth-century Black physicians and medical professionals who served their communities, the role of the Philadelphia Lazaretto in multiple yellow fever epidemics and the slave trade, and Black community leaders’ responses to false narratives about Black people’s immunity to diseases, notably yellow fever. We will engage with public historians, historians of medicine and science, and public health workers throughout the semester. Students will also work together as a class to create a chronological zine and website that charts the Black history of public health in Philadelphia from the founding of the United States to the present. This course will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program.