south park small pox native american casino

Letter from Cotton Mather to James Jurin, ( CLP/23ii/31) As part of our exhibit ‘ A Celebration of Black Science’ we mention the role played by the enslaved ‘ Onesimus’ in introducing Cotton Mather to smallpox inoculation. The inoculations performed on enslaved and free people of African descent were most pertinent to my research. The letters include reports and observations about smallpox inoculations performed on children and, to a lesser extent, adults, in England, France, and North America (primarily Boston and Charleston) during the 1720s and 1730s. My research there focused on James Jurin’s correspondence with physicians and scientists during his tenure as Secretary of the Society. My interests in West African inoculators led me to the Royal Society’s Archives when I was a fellow at NYU’s London campus in 2018. How did you discover the Royal Society archives and which records have you studied there? I’ve spent the last four years tracing West and West Central Africans’ macabre journeys across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean, where they cycled through compulsory health inspections, quarantines, treatments, and, in some cases, smallpox inoculations. My current project, ‘ Smallpox and Slavery: Morbidity, Medical Intervention, and Enslaved People's Lives in the Greater Caribbean’, addresses the histories of enslaved Africans who endured smallpox outbreaks, treatments, and public health interventions, between roughly 15, before the promulgation of the Jennerian vaccine. I’m finishing my PhD at New York University.

Could you introduce yourself and your research? Elise is a PhD candidate in Atlantic World History and Caribbean and Latin American History at New York University.

South park small pox native american casino