“Race and Place: Yellow Fever and the Free African Society in Philadelphia,” Pandemic Perspectives: Stories Through Collections (virtual)

As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Oklahoma History Center will offer a virtual portal to the Smithsonian program “Race and Place: Yellow Fever and the Free African Society in Philadelphia,” on Tuesday, February 2, at 3 p.m. This event is free, but preregistration is required. The program is part of a series of online talks from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The program will use the virtual platform to present historical objects in the national collections to lend perspective on the current pandemic. By virtually sharing artifacts, curators and historians will use them as a springboard for a lively discussion to explore how the past can help us better understand the present. The format will be a moderated dialogue among the panelists with the opportunity for the audience to pose additional questions.

In 1793, a yellow fever epidemic shook Philadelphia, the new nation’s capital. Many residents, including medical practitioners, fled the city. In their absence, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones of the Free African Society marshaled their organization’s members to provide free care to the sick and dying. Panelists will explore the work of the Free African Society during the pandemic along with a discussion of the backlash that emerged against the Free African Society in the wake of the epidemic.

Moderator:
Alexandra Lord, Ph.D., National Museum of American History

Panelists:
Billy Smith, Ph.D., Montana State University
David Barnes, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Vanessa Northington Gamble, Ph.D., MD, George Washington University

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