Race and Health: Past Pandemics and COVID-19

This resource is part of the AHA’s Bibliography of Historians’ Responses to COVID-19.

 

Past Pandemics and Epidemics

 

Racialized Inequality

Kathryn Olivarius, “The Dangerous History of Immunoprivilege,” The New York Times (April 12, 2020)

Philip Jenkins, “An Epidemic Sparks Racial Nightmares: Philadelphia in the 1790s,” Anxious Bench (April 17, 2020)

Jeffrey Ostler, “Disease Has Never Been Just Disease for Native Americans,” The Atlantic (April 29, 2020)

Gregory D. Smithers, “Covid-19 has been brutal in Indian country—just like past epidemics were,” The Washington Post (May 20, 2020)

Maria Paula Andrade, “Cholera, COVID-19, and the Racial Wounds in the Americas,” The Panorama (June 1, 2020)

Christopher D.E. Willoughby, “Power to the Patients: Teaching the History of Race and Medicine during COVID-19,” The Panorama (May 26, 2020)

Coyote Shook, “Flu in the Arctic: Influenza in Alaska, 1918,” Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (June 9, 2020)

Naoko Wake, “Lack of Empathy Takes the United States Deeper into the Second Cold War,” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (July 15, 2020)

Erin V. Moore, “What HIV Teaches Us: The Need for Affordable Health Care,” Origins (August 8, 2020)

Deirdre Cooper Owens, “Medical Racism Has Shaped U.S. Policies for Centuries,” The Washington Post (February 12, 2021)

Videos and Podcasts:‎

Gregg Mitman, “#40 | Gregg Mitman | Pandemic: A Letter from the Past,” Science! With Friends (April 1, 2020)

Evelynn M. Hammonds and Rana Hogarth, “The Myth of Innate Racial Differences Between White and Black People’s Bodies: Lessons from the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” Hutchins Center for African & African American Research (April 16, 2020)

Elise Mitchell, “Episode 128: History Of Pandemics,” Season of the Bitch (May 26, 2020) 

Race and Xenophobia

Hannah Marcus, “What the Plague Can Teach Us about the Coronavirus,” The New York Times (March 1, 2020)

Mary E. Fissell, “Pandemics come and go. The way people respond to them barely changes,” The Washington Post (May 7, 2020)

Elise A. Mitchell, “The Shortages May Be Worse Than the Disease,” The Atlantic (March 11, 2020) 

Justin Barr, Richard A. McKay, and Deborah B. Doroshow, “The Dangers of ‘Us Versus Them’: Epidemics Then and Now,” Journal of General Internal Medicine (January 8, 2021)

Videos and Podcasts:

“On the Margins: Epidemics and the Disenfranchised,” Canadian Society for the History of Medicine (June 18, 2020)  

Racialized Inequality

Bethany L. Jones and Jonathan S. Jones, “Gov. Cuomo is wrong, covid-19 is anything but an equalizer,” The Washington Post (April 5, 2020)

Ayah Nuriddin, Kathleen Brian, and William Horne, “COVID-19 Shows Republicans’ Commitment to Eugenics,” The Activist History Review (April 18, 2020)

Deirdre Cooper Owens, “COVID-19 reveals a long history of health inequities affecting African Americans,” Houston Chronicle (April 22, 2020)

Elise A. Mitchell, “‘If bitterness were a whetstone’: On Grief, History, and COVID-19” Black Perspectives (April 23, 2020)

Ian Miller, “How Covid-19 Has Highlighted African American Health Problems,” RTÉ (April 27, 2020)

Colin Gordon, Walter Johnson, Jason Q. Purnell, and Jamala Rogers, “COVID-19 and the Color Line,” Boston Review (May 1, 2020)

Isaac Chotiner, “How Racism Is Shaping the Coronavirus Pandemic,” The New Yorker (May 7, 2020)

Ryan Mulcahy, Interview with Liette Gidlow, “Health of Democracy Faces Daunting Test,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University (May 14, 2020)

Cara Kiernan Fallon, “WHO Focus Widened to Reflect Health Needs,” Wall Street Journal (May 20, 2020)

Carla Cevasco, “COVID-19 Didn’t Break the Food System. Hunger Was Already Here.” Nursing Clio, (May 26, 2020)

Anne Pollock, “A massive societal transformation is required for Black Lives to truly Matter,” Independent (June 5, 2020)

T.J. Tallie, “Asymptomatic Lethality: Cooper, COVID-19, and the Potential for Black Death,” Nursing Clio (June 8, 2020)

Alexander Manevitz, “The Failures of Reconstruction Have Never Been More Evident-or Relevant-Than Today,” The Washington Post (June 11, 2020)

Antoine Johnson, “From HIV-AIDS to COVID-19: Black Vulnerability and Medical Uncertainty,” Black Perspectives (June 15, 2020)

Victoria L. Jackson, “Cancel the College Football Season,” The Boston Globe (June 23, 2020)

Shakti Castro, “Surveilling Racialized Bodies,” NACLA Report on the Americas (July 2, 2020)

Marco Ramos, Tess Lanzarotta, and Iris Chandler, “COVID-19 Is Changing What It Means to Be a Doctor,” Boston Review (July 16, 2020)

Modupe Labode, Crystal Marie Moten, and Tsione Wold-Michael, “Black Life in Two Pandemics: Histories of Violence,” O Say Can You See? (August 25, 2020)

Christy Clark-Pujara and Anna-Lisa Cox, “Many Tulsa Massacres: How the Myth of a Liberal North Erases a Long History of White Violence,” O Say Can You See? (August 25, 2020)

Ashley Howard, “A Watched Pot Never Boils,” O Say Can You See? (August 26, 2020)

Katrina Phillips, “‘Where Two Waters Come Together’: The Confluence of Black and Indigenous History at Bdote,” O Say Can You See? (August 26, 2020)

Chioma Uwagwu, Tiaryn Daniels, and David Todd Lawrence, “Art and Uprising: The George Floyd and Anti-Racist Art Database,” O Say Can You See? (August 27, 2020)

Mahader Tamene, Elleni M. Hailu, Rachel L. Berkowitz, and Xing Gao, “COVID-19, Police Violence, and the Historical Thread That Binds Them: Structural Racism as a Public Health Issue,” O Say Can You See? (August 27, 2020)

Modupe Labode, Crystal Marie Moten, and Tsione Wold-Michael, “Reflecting on Black Life in Two Pandemics,” O Say Can You See? (August 28, 2020)

George Aumoithe, “The Racist History that Explains Why Some Communities Don’t Have Enough ICU Beds,” The Washington Post (September 16, 2020)

Jessica Ordaz, “Migrant Detention Centers Have a Long History of Medical Neglect and Abuse,” The Washington Post (September 18, 2020)

Marco Armiero, “COVID-19, the World, and Me,” Environmental History (October 13, 2020)

Gabriella Petrick, “A Can of Beans: Food Systems and COVID-19,” Environmental History (October 13, 2020)

Videos and Podcasts:

“Pandemic & Its Discontents w/ Elise Mitchell,” Left POCket Podcast (April 26, 2020)

“Racism and COVID-19: The historical, political, and social foundations,” Who Belongs? Podcast (April 29, 2020)

Farina King, “Navajo Nation’s Pandemic Suffering Underscores Lingering Harm of Colonialism,” Top of Mind with Julie Rose (May 6, 2020)

“COVID-19 and the Black Community: A Perspective with Dr. Keith Wailoo,” A Different Booklist Cultural Center (May 12, 2020)

“‘Race in the COVID Era: What America’s History of Racism and Xenophobia Means for Today’ Conversation,” Princeton University Office of Communications (June 4, 2020)

Joann Freeman, Brian Balogh, Kylie Smith, Martin Summers, Clifford Trafzer, and Maya Manian, “Another Burden to Bear: A History of Racial Health Disparities in America,” BackStory (June 5, 2020)

Keith Wailoo, “Intersecting Vulnerabilities: What Lies Behind the Inequities of COVID-19,” We Roar Princeton (June 8, 2020)

Samuel K. Roberts and Mabel O. Wilson, “Black Lives: In the Era of COVID-19,” Columbia University African American and African Diaspora Studies Department (June 9, 2020)

“Racism is a health risk,” World: we got this (June 11, 2020)

Scott Gabriel Knowles, “COVID-19, Race, Health, & the Hospital Crisis: Nic John Ramos and Dannie Ritchie,” Scott Gabriel Knowles-COVID-Calls (June 12, 2020)

Michel Martin and George Aumoithe, “Half of America’s Low Income Communities Have No ICU Beds. Why?” Amanpour and Company (September 28, 2020)

Race and Xenophobia

Tamara Venit-Shelton, “Panic over the Coronavirus Recalls Other Racist Chapters in California’s History,” The Los Angeles Times (February 7, 2020)

Judith W. Leavitt and Lewis A. Leavitt, “Don’t Let COVID-19 Unleash Bias,” The Progressive (March 16, 2020)

Mark A. Goldberg, “Stop Calling Covid-19 a Foreign Virus,” The Washington Post (March 26, 2020)

Jennifer Ho, “Anti-Asian racism and COVID-19,” Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine (April 8, 2020)

Ivan Natividad, “Racist harassment of Asian health care workers won’t cure coronavirus,” Berkeley News (April 9, 2020)

Andrew Liu, “Blaming China for coronavirus isn’t just dangerous. It misses the point,” The Guardian (April 10, 2020)

Xaq Frohlich, “Food historian comments on wet markets and COVID-19,” Auburn Perspectives (April 23, 2020)

Jennifer Le Zotte and Jacob Steere-Williams, “Trump’s Outrageous Suggestion Comes with a Dark Past,” CNN (April 26, 2020)

Shinjini Das, “India’s initial coronavirus responses carried echoes of the colonial era,” The Conversation (April 29, 2020)

Emer Lucy, “Absolutely Disgusting: Wet Markets, Stigma Theory, and Xenophobia,” Nursing Clio (June 2, 2020)

Stephen McDowall, “Chinese Studies in a Pandemic: A Historian’s View,” British Journal of Chinese Studies (July 7, 2020)

Erika Lee, “Americans Are the Dangerous, Disease-Carrying Foreigners Now,” The Washington Post (July 8, 2020)

Manan Ahmed Asif, “Virulence of Hindutva,” in The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia (December 2020)

Christine R. Yano, “Racing the Pandemic: Anti-Asian Racism amid COVID-19,” in The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia (December 2020)

Videos and Podcasts:

George Takei, Erika Lee, and Cathy Park Hong, “Asian American Discrimination and the Coronavirus,” On Point (April 14, 2020)

James Boo and Erika Lee, “Forever Foreign,” In the Thick (May 26, 2020)

 

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COVID-19

Racialized Inequality

Bethany L. Jones and Jonathan S. Jones, “Gov. Cuomo is wrong, covid-19 is anything but an equalizer,” The Washington Post (April 5, 2020)

Ayah Nuriddin, Kathleen Brian, and William Horne, “COVID-19 Shows Republicans’ Commitment to Eugenics,” The Activist History Review (April 18, 2020)

Deirdre Cooper Owens, “COVID-19 reveals a long history of health inequities affecting African Americans,” Houston Chronicle (April 22, 2020)

Elise A. Mitchell, “‘If bitterness were a whetstone’: On Grief, History, and COVID-19” Black Perspectives (April 23, 2020)

Ian Miller, “How Covid-19 Has Highlighted African American Health Problems,” RTÉ (April 27, 2020)

Colin Gordon, Walter Johnson, Jason Q. Purnell, and Jamala Rogers, “COVID-19 and the Color Line,” Boston Review (May 1, 2020)

Isaac Chotiner, “How Racism Is Shaping the Coronavirus Pandemic,” The New Yorker (May 7, 2020)

Ryan Mulcahy, Interview with Liette Gidlow, “Health of Democracy Faces Daunting Test,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University (May 14, 2020)

Cara Kiernan Fallon, “WHO Focus Widened to Reflect Health Needs,” Wall Street Journal (May 20, 2020)

Carla Cevasco, “COVID-19 Didn’t Break the Food System. Hunger Was Already Here.” Nursing Clio, (May 26, 2020)

Anne Pollock, “A massive societal transformation is required for Black Lives to truly Matter,” Independent (June 5, 2020)

T.J. Tallie, “Asymptomatic Lethality: Cooper, COVID-19, and the Potential for Black Death,” Nursing Clio (June 8, 2020)

Alexander Manevitz, “The Failures of Reconstruction Have Never Been More Evident-or Relevant-Than Today,” The Washington Post (June 11, 2020)

Antoine Johnson, “From HIV-AIDS to COVID-19: Black Vulnerability and Medical Uncertainty,” Black Perspectives (June 15, 2020)

Victoria L. Jackson, “Cancel the College Football Season,” The Boston Globe (June 23, 2020)

Shakti Castro, “Surveilling Racialized Bodies,” NACLA Report on the Americas (July 2, 2020)

Marco Ramos, Tess Lanzarotta, and Iris Chandler, “COVID-19 Is Changing What It Means to Be a Doctor,” Boston Review (July 16, 2020)

Modupe Labode, Crystal Marie Moten, and Tsione Wold-Michael, “Black Life in Two Pandemics: Histories of Violence,” O Say Can You See? (August 25, 2020)

Christy Clark-Pujara and Anna-Lisa Cox, “Many Tulsa Massacres: How the Myth of a Liberal North Erases a Long History of White Violence,” O Say Can You See? (August 25, 2020)

Ashley Howard, “A Watched Pot Never Boils,” O Say Can You See? (August 26, 2020)

Katrina Phillips, “‘Where Two Waters Come Together’: The Confluence of Black and Indigenous History at Bdote,” O Say Can You See? (August 26, 2020)

Chioma Uwagwu, Tiaryn Daniels, and David Todd Lawrence, “Art and Uprising: The George Floyd and Anti-Racist Art Database,” O Say Can You See? (August 27, 2020)

Mahader Tamene, Elleni M. Hailu, Rachel L. Berkowitz, and Xing Gao, “COVID-19, Police Violence, and the Historical Thread That Binds Them: Structural Racism as a Public Health Issue,” O Say Can You See? (August 27, 2020)

Modupe Labode, Crystal Marie Moten, and Tsione Wold-Michael, “Reflecting on Black Life in Two Pandemics,” O Say Can You See? (August 28, 2020)

George Aumoithe, “The Racist History that Explains Why Some Communities Don’t Have Enough ICU Beds,” The Washington Post (September 16, 2020)

Jessica Ordaz, “Migrant Detention Centers Have a Long History of Medical Neglect and Abuse,” The Washington Post (September 18, 2020)

Marco Armiero, “COVID-19, the World, and Me,” Environmental History (October 13, 2020)

Gabriella Petrick, “A Can of Beans: Food Systems and COVID-19,” Environmental History (October 13, 2020)

Videos and Podcasts:

“Pandemic & Its Discontents w/ Elise Mitchell,” Left POCket Podcast (April 26, 2020)

“Racism and COVID-19: The historical, political, and social foundations,” Who Belongs? Podcast (April 29, 2020)

Farina King, “Navajo Nation’s Pandemic Suffering Underscores Lingering Harm of Colonialism,” Top of Mind with Julie Rose (May 6, 2020)

“COVID-19 and the Black Community: A Perspective with Dr. Keith Wailoo,” A Different Booklist Cultural Center (May 12, 2020)

“‘Race in the COVID Era: What America’s History of Racism and Xenophobia Means for Today’ Conversation,” Princeton University Office of Communications (June 4, 2020)

Joann Freeman, Brian Balogh, Kylie Smith, Martin Summers, Clifford Trafzer, and Maya Manian, “Another Burden to Bear: A History of Racial Health Disparities in America,” BackStory (June 5, 2020)

Keith Wailoo, “Intersecting Vulnerabilities: What Lies Behind the Inequities of COVID-19,” We Roar Princeton (June 8, 2020)

Samuel K. Roberts and Mabel O. Wilson, “Black Lives: In the Era of COVID-19,” Columbia University African American and African Diaspora Studies Department (June 9, 2020)

“Racism is a health risk,” World: we got this (June 11, 2020)

Scott Gabriel Knowles, “COVID-19, Race, Health, & the Hospital Crisis: Nic John Ramos and Dannie Ritchie,” Scott Gabriel Knowles-COVID-Calls (June 12, 2020)

Michel Martin and George Aumoithe, “Half of America’s Low Income Communities Have No ICU Beds. Why?” Amanpour and Company (September 28, 2020)

Race and Xenophobia

Tamara Venit-Shelton, “Panic over the Coronavirus Recalls Other Racist Chapters in California’s History,” The Los Angeles Times (February 7, 2020)

Judith W. Leavitt and Lewis A. Leavitt, “Don’t Let COVID-19 Unleash Bias,” The Progressive (March 16, 2020)

Mark A. Goldberg, “Stop Calling Covid-19 a Foreign Virus,” The Washington Post (March 26, 2020)

Jennifer Ho, “Anti-Asian racism and COVID-19,” Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine (April 8, 2020)

Ivan Natividad, “Racist harassment of Asian health care workers won’t cure coronavirus,” Berkeley News (April 9, 2020)

Andrew Liu, “Blaming China for coronavirus isn’t just dangerous. It misses the point,” The Guardian (April 10, 2020)

Xaq Frohlich, “Food historian comments on wet markets and COVID-19,” Auburn Perspectives (April 23, 2020)

Jennifer Le Zotte and Jacob Steere-Williams, “Trump’s Outrageous Suggestion Comes with a Dark Past,” CNN (April 26, 2020)

Shinjini Das, “India’s initial coronavirus responses carried echoes of the colonial era,” The Conversation (April 29, 2020)

Emer Lucy, “Absolutely Disgusting: Wet Markets, Stigma Theory, and Xenophobia,” Nursing Clio (June 2, 2020)

Stephen McDowall, “Chinese Studies in a Pandemic: A Historian’s View,” British Journal of Chinese Studies (July 7, 2020)

Erika Lee, “Americans Are the Dangerous, Disease-Carrying Foreigners Now,” The Washington Post (July 8, 2020)

Manan Ahmed Asif, “Virulence of Hindutva,” in The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia (December 2020)

Christine R. Yano, “Racing the Pandemic: Anti-Asian Racism amid COVID-19,” in The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia (December 2020)

Videos and Podcasts:

George Takei, Erika Lee, and Cathy Park Hong, “Asian American Discrimination and the Coronavirus,” On Point (April 14, 2020)

James Boo and Erika Lee, “Forever Foreign,” In the Thick (May 26, 2020)