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Common Reading 2020-21: Listen. Learn. Act. The 1619 Project Podcast & This is My America

This year's theme, Listen. Learn. Act., is dedicated to learning about Black peoples and their experiences especially in the US

Listen to Episode 4 of '1619'

Logo of headphones over the word ListenListen to the Episode

Episode 4, How the Bad Blood Started, focuses on the intersection of race and the health-care in America from personal stories to a look at the history to current health disparities.

One of the essays in the 1619 Project discusses issues raised in this podcast episode:

Inside the Historical Roots of the Pandemic’s Racial Disparities

Black Americans have experienced a vastly disproportionate death rate during the Covid-19 pandemic, magnifying and revealing persistent inequalities that remain an undeniable force in this country. A recent cover story in The New York Times Magazine addressed these tragic disparities and showed how they are connected to a history of systemic racism in the United States. This same history was explored in the magazine’s landmark 1619 Project last summer.

Linda Villarosa, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who wrote How False Beliefs in Physical Racial Difference Still Live in Medicine Today was joined by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning domestic correspondent and creator of the 1619 Project; Jeneen Interlandi, New York Times editorial board member and staff writer for the magazine. Hosted by Jake Silverstein, editor in chief of the magazine.

Joe Madison: Tuskegee Institute Syphilis Study

In the PBS genealogy and family history show, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a radio host named Joe Madison learns that his grandfather was a victim of the infamous Tuskegee Institute Syphilis Study. This episode aired on April 9, 2019.

Screen capture of a 4:43 video about Joe Madison's grandfather; click this image to follow the link to the video

"The Tuskegee Institute Syphilis Study, or Tuskegee Study, was conducted by the United States Public Health Service from 1932 until 1972; the objective of the study was to observe the natural progression of the sexually transmitted disease syphilis on African American men. 

The study was conducted on African American men, primarily poor and uneducated sharecroppers in Tuskegee, Alabama; which at the time had the highest syphilis rate in the country. The participants were told they were being treated for “bad blood” .... Participants of the study were never told they had syphilis and were only given placebos even after 1947 when scientists discovered that penicillin was an effective treatment for syphilis."

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care: Historical and Contemporary Issues

Dr. W. Michael Byrd and Dr. Linda A. Clayton, authors of the book An American Health Dilemma, speak at Boston University in October 2016.

Speakers:

W. Michael Byrd, Director, Institute for Optimizing Health and Health Care Inc.; Health Policy Researcher, Harvard School of Public Health; Health Policy Instructor, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School; Adjunct Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meharry Medical College

Linda A. Clayton, Co-Director, Institute for Optimizing Health and Health Care Inc.; Health Policy Researcher, Harvard School of Public Health; Health Policy Instructor, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School; Adjunct Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meharry Medical College

More about the History

W. Montague Cobb, doctor and scholar (1904-1990)

Cobb

Image Credit: BlackPast.org


Inoculation was introduced to America by an African man

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UO LibrarySearch - Find articles, books, and more

LibrarySearch offers a streamlined interface for finding books and other media that combines the collections of UO Libraries and Summit libraries.

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Books on Race in Health Care

Related readings and podcasts

The University of Alabama's Speaking of Race podcast has a mini-series on Race & Health:


Reading List