In the Margins S02E02 - Yellow Fever in Philadelphia

Less than 20 years after the American Revolution, the nation's capital was under threat of total collapse. The culprit? Yellow fever, and the hardest hit city was Philadelphia. The fall of the capital of the United States so soon after a revolution could mean the end of America. While the upper class and politicians ran for the hills in hopes of escaping "impure air", top health officials pleaded for the city's free Black communities to step in to help the rapidly deteriorating capital. Why was this group chosen specifically? How can we apply their story to how Black communities survived disproportionate illness during the COVID epidemic? And is America at risk for another collapse due to a pandemic?