One vital but less-known story from early America is that of Onesimus, an African man enslaved in the colonies who helped change the shape of American medicine.
Infectious disease outbreaks were a too-familiar nightmare for the colonists - and in 1721, a particularly serious smallpox epidemic was ravaging Boston. Before knowledge of inoculation had spread to these shores, the practice was well-known in West Africa - and it was none other than Onesimus who first shared this life-changing method of prevention.
In this episode of Black History in Two Minutes (or so) hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - with additional commentary from Margot Minardi of Reed College and Ted Widmer of Macaulay Honors College CUNY - we explore the surprising origins of American inoculation.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Robert Smith
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Dyllan McGee
SERIES PRODUCER
Kelsi Lindus
PRODUCERS
Chelsea Adewunmi
Oluwaseun Babalola
Kevin Burke
Megan Graham
Vashni Korin
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Robert L. Yacyshyn
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Ashley Thomas
POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Veronica Leib
POST PRODUCTION MANAGER
Katherine Swiatek
WRITTEN BY
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED BY
Matthew Head
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Kevin Burke
SERIES EDITOR
Reena Mangubat
EDITORS
Cierra Pacheco
Liza Renzulli
Anne Yao
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Ben Pakman
Patrice Bowman
Imani Dean
SUPERVISING PRODUCERS
Will Ventura
Sara Wolitzky
ARCHIVAL PRODUCERS
Megan Graham
Jade Edwards-Lovell
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Seng Chen
Gregory Brutus
Nausheen Dadabhoy
Archival Materials Courtesy of:
Alamy Images
Getty Images
Library of Congress
Pond5
The Maryland Gazette
Special Thanks
Jorge Felipe
Amy Gosdanian
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
Romilla Karnick
Margot MinardiJohn Thornton
Marial Iglesias Utset
Sara Wicht
Ted Widmer
Abby Wolf