Death was Creeping Through the Air: Post-War American Politics and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

Presenter Information

Emma Baker, Oberlin CollegeFollow

Location

King Building 101

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-27-2019 7:00 PM

End Date

4-27-2019 8:00 PM

Abstract

My capstone explores the United States of America from 1918 to 1919. Although the devastation of the first World War had ended, questions of liberty, security, democracy continued to divide the American public. This in combination with the devastating influenza epidemic exposed social divides and tensions. Scholars have examined the flu, and others have investigated the successes and failures of Wilson era Progressivism; however, my research places these simultaneous events in conversation with one another. I use both primary sources that indicate contemporary rhetoric as well as scholarly analysis. Through my research I hope to indicate how the tensions of this historical moment were further exacerbated by the flu, and how historical memory.

Keywords:

American history, Influenza, Progressivism

Notes

Session VIII, Panel 24 - Public | Health

Moderator: Matthew Senior, Chair of the Department of French & Italian and Ruberta T. McCandless, Professor of French

Major

History; Comparative American Studies

Advisor(s)

Matt Bahar, History
Shelley Lee, Comparative American Studies and History

Project Mentor(s)

Len Smith, History

April 2019

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Apr 27th, 7:00 PM Apr 27th, 8:00 PM

Death was Creeping Through the Air: Post-War American Politics and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

King Building 101

My capstone explores the United States of America from 1918 to 1919. Although the devastation of the first World War had ended, questions of liberty, security, democracy continued to divide the American public. This in combination with the devastating influenza epidemic exposed social divides and tensions. Scholars have examined the flu, and others have investigated the successes and failures of Wilson era Progressivism; however, my research places these simultaneous events in conversation with one another. I use both primary sources that indicate contemporary rhetoric as well as scholarly analysis. Through my research I hope to indicate how the tensions of this historical moment were further exacerbated by the flu, and how historical memory.