In 1793 a yellow fever epidemic almost destroyed Philadelphia. The young city was saved by two Black preachers, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, who organized the free Black community in providing essential services and nursing the sick and dying. Allen and Jones were assured of two things: that stepping up would help them gain full equality and citizenship, and that they were immune to the disease. Neither promise turned out to be true.
About Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race“Calamity in Philadelphia” is Episode 2 of Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race, a podcast and magazine project that explores the historical roots and persistent legacies of racism in American science and medicine. Published through Distillations, the Science History Institute’s highly acclaimed digital content platform, the project examines the scientific origins of support for racist theories, practices, and policies. Innate is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
CreditsHosts: Alexis Pedrick and Elisabeth Berry Drago
Senior Producer: Mariel Carr
Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez
Associate Producer: Padmini Ragunath
Audio Engineer: Jonathan Pfeffer
Richard Allen voiceover by Jason Carr
“Innate Theme” composed by Jonathan Pfeffer. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Resource ListHow the Politics of Race Played Out During the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic, by Alicia Ault
A short account of the malignant fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia: with a statement of the proceedings that took place on the subject in different parts of the United States, by Mathew Carey
Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780-1840, by Rana A. Hogarth
A narrative of the proceedings of the black people, during the late awful calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793, by Absalom Jones and Richard Allen
Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers, by Richard Newman
Observations upon the origin of the malignant bilious, or yellow fever in Philadelphia, and upon the means of preventing it: addressed to the citizens of Philadelphia, by Benjamin Rush
Bishop Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom, produced by Dr. Mark Tyler
TranscriptThe Alchemical Origins of Occupational Medicine
Bonus Episode: Doing Science with an Invisible Disability
Science and Disability Part 2
Bonus Episode: A Short History of Disability in the United States
Science and Disability
Collecting Monstrosity
Preview: New Season Coming August 4th!
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Magda Marquet
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Robert Langer
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Mark Stevenson
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with John Maraganore
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Katrine Bosley
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with William Haseltine
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Susan Weiss
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with Sue Desmond-Hellmann
BONUS EPISODE: Pandemic Perspectives with John C. Martin
BONUS EPISODE: Spit Spreads Death
BONUS EPISODE: The Blooper Reel
Preview: We're moving to seasons!
How Philadelphia's Water Pollution Problems Shaped the City
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
The Rest Is History