One Health lecture on the great smallpox epidemic, Sept 13
Join us for glimpse into the history of infectious diseases as we learn about the great smallpox epidemic of 1775-82 from noted historian Elizabeth Fenn, who will speak on Friday, Septmber 13 at 1:00 p.m. in room 175 of the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences
Fenn received her Ph.D. from Yale and is currently professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder Professor Fenn’s field of study is the early American West, focusing on epidemic disease, Native American, and environmental history. Her aim is to develop a continent-wide analysis that incorporates Native Americans as well as African, British, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Russian colonizers into a narrative that reflects the demographic and geographic realities of the early contact era.
Her 2001 book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 (Hill and Wang), unearthed the devastating effects of a terrible smallpox epidemic that coursed across the North American continent during the years of the American Revolution. Her current book project, Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People (Hill and Wang, forthcoming), analyzes the experience of North Dakota’s Mandan Indians from 1100 to 1845.