Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

Presented by:

Elizabeth Fenn

Chair of the History Department at the University of Colorado Boulder

No slides available

Elizabeth Fenn tells the gruesome, riveting story of smallpox during the era of the American Revolution. Few people know that a terrible epidemic ravaged North America in these years, influencing the Revolutionary War, dashing the dreams of freedom-loving African Americans, and wreaking havoc on Native Americans across the continent. Elizabeth also addresses eighteenth-century biological warfare in her talk.