The
Black Death (or Bubonic or Great Plague) was a four-year epidemic that affected
30-60% of the European population. It was critical to the history of the Middle
Ages that we studied. The Great Plague is believed to have begun in
Central Asia in the early 1330s where it was carried by rats on ships across
and throughout the Mediterranean and Europe. It is believed to have killed up
to 200 million people across Europe from 1347-1351 and it may have taken 200
years before the world’s population recovered from the loss of life from the
epidemic.
Many
of us remember studying the Middle Ages and its Black Death in school. What we
might not have learned was that there were many plagues throughout history.
The
Bubonic Plague reappeared several times again in Europe, but not with the same
devastating power. Pulitzer Prize author Geraldine Brooks wrote a startling and
heartbreaking account of towns in England suffering from a 1600s plague and its
shattering impacts on families, government, and society. The 2001 historical
novel, Year
of Wonders, is currently in film production.
In
1918, at the end of The Great War (or WWI) the Spanish Flu, or the Pandemic of
1918-1919, affected one-fifth of the entire world’s population. It killed more
people than those who had died in the Great War. Somewhere around 20 million to
40 million people died in twelve months.
I
don’t remember studying or hearing much about the Spanish Flu in America. Many
of my aunts and uncles were alive in 1918 – and certainly my grandparents – and
I heard no stories from them during their lifetimes. However, 28% of Americans
were affected by the Spanish Flu and more than 675,000 died. The epidemic
affected Americans between 20 and 40 years of old the most severely –
more than 10 times the soldiers set to return to America from Europe died of
the flu than who had died in the war.
Liz
Reed, Adult Services Librarian here at our library in Norwood was recently
awarded a Massachusetts Humanities Discussion grant to present Norwood’s
experience with the pandemic of 1918. A Century Later: Norwood’s
Experience in the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 is a series of 8 events planned
throughout the month of October. Several Town of Norwood departments have
partnered with the Morrill Memorial Library – the Norwood Public Health
Department, the Norwood Highland Cemetery, and the Norwood Senior Center. Also
collaborating is the Norwood Historical Society.
Two of
the events will focus on books. One was written by Norwood historian and
retired professor, Patricia Fanning. Patti Fanning’s book, Influenza and
Inequality, began as an academic study of the Town of Norwood’s response to
the 1918 epidemic was published in 1910 by the University of Massachusetts. The
Historical Journal of Massachusetts writes that “Historians once thought that
the pandemic struck down its victims irrespective of class or ethnicity.
[Patricia] Fanning dispels this error, demonstrating that immigrants and the
poor died in Norwood in disproportionate numbers.”
The
other book being discussed during the series, Pale Horse, Pale Rider is a
novella by Katherine Anne Porter published in 1939. Porter’s novella
depicts the tragedy and suffering in a story of Miranda, a newspaper woman in
Denver, Colorado who is tended while sick and delirious from the influenza
epidemic of 1918. Adam, a soldier who is also stricken with the flu dies while
Miranda is recovering.
The
series will begin with a discussion of Porter’s novella at the Day House in
Norwood on Tuesday, October 2. Dr. Cashman Kerr Prince, library trustee and
member of the Historical Society, will lead the event beginning at 6:30 pm.
On
October 10 at 6:30 pm, Dr. Al DeMaria will present A History of Firsts: Public
Health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. DeMaria is Medical Director of
the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences and State
Epidemiologist in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. He is also
President of the Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society. He will lead us on
a fascinating journey through the history of public health and disease in
Massachusetts.
On
Saturday, October 13 between 9 and 11 am, a flu vaccine clinic will be held at
the Norwood Senior center. It is open to all residents 14 years or older and
the Public Health Department requests that everyone who requests a vaccine
bring their health insurance information.
On
Monday, October 15 at 6:30 pm at the library, noted historian and author
Anthony Sammarco will present Boston 1918: The Spanish Flu. He will lead
participants on an exploration of Boston during World War I, the disease that
decimated the world, and Boston’s response to the flu epidemic.
On
Monday, October 22 at 6:30 pm at the library, author Patti Fanning and library
director Charlotte Canelli will lead a discussion of Influenza and Inequality.
Ms. Fanning will discuss Norwood’s tragic response to the pandemic that
resulted in deaths that occurred in the pockets of Norwood where both the poor
and immigrants lived in conditions that both spread the flu and did little to
help its victims.
On
Saturday, October 27 at 3:00 pm, Patti Fanning will lead a walking tour of
Highland Cemetery, the resting place of many Norwood flu epidemic victims. The
walk literally illustrates history as the steps of the grieving families and
overwhelmed town officials will be retraced. There will be simultaneous flu
vaccine clinic on the cemetery grounds courtesy of the Norwood Public Health
Department. (Rain date is Sunday, October 28.)
This
month-long series will end with the last program on October 29 at 6:30 pm at
the library. Influenza 1918,
a short documentary film produced by WGBH Boston will be shown. A discussion
will follow, tying together personal stories with the historical events.
Registration
for these events is available by calling or visiting the library or
emailing norprograms@minlib.net. Books for both discussion groups will be
available upon registration.
Once
the program has ended, book clubs may request the Book Club Kit of
Patti Fanning’s book, Influenza and Inequality from the Minuteman Library catalog.
Please call the library for more information. We hope you will join us
for this very historical, very relevant, very important series!
