Racism, Anti-scientific prejudice, and the History of Bubonic Plague: Two Plagues Separated by 5,000 years
12 Pages Posted: 8 Aug 2022
Date Written: July 19, 2022
Abstract
Two plague epidemics separated by 5,000 years share more similarities than differences. The San Francisco bubonic plague epidemic of 1900-1907 and the Bronze Age pneumonic plague epidemic of the third millennium B.C.E. were both caused by the same bacterium, Y.Pestis and both caused widespread death. This paper explores the similarity in the contemporary and historical narratives about race surrounding the stories told about these two apparently geographically and temporally distinct plague pandemics.
Keywords: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, Bronze Age, paleogenetics
JEL Classification: J11, J15, N30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation