A History of Pandemics:
Science vs. Prejudice
A Podcast by Grace Phillips
Consisting of three episodes, this podcast explores the relationship between science and prejudice amidst different outbreaks in history. Specifically, it intends to highlight the inefficacy of cultural prejudice and ignorance in understanding the true nature of a virus. With three episodes, each covering a different outbreak, and each ranging from ten to fifteen minutes, this piece of media sheds light on COVID-19 and its own xenophobia with a new perspective: a historical one. Listeners will walk away from this podcast with the lesson that, historically, empathy has trumped ignorance in saving humanity from disease—meaning that today, compassion really is our best hope.
Episode I : Anti-Chinese Hysteria in San Francisco’s Chinatown
In this episode, I go back to the early 20th century to look at an outbreak of bubonic plague in San-Francisco’s Chinatown. Here, I use this example to show how discrimination (particularly, anti-chinese hate) was not only immoral, but ineffective.
Episode II : Adopting Vaccine Technology from the Middle-East and Africa
For my second episode, I turn back the clock all the way to the 18th century when smallpox had ravaged through Europe and was spreading to New England. I’ll tell the stories of two historical figures (one in London, one in Boston) who helped save thousands of lives by putting aside their prejudice in the name of science and popularizing vaccine technology where it was needed most.
Grace Phillips is a freshman at Pitzer College intending to major in environmental studies with a possible minor in Spanish, Media Studies, or Sociology. In addition to traveling, backpacking, and creating art, she’s passionate about the human impact of pandemics like COVID-19. Likewise, if nothing else, she hopes to use her college education to fight for human rights in tandem with the fight against climate change.
Episode III: Homophobia in the 1980s HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Finally, for my last episode, I shed light on an outbreak that’s both local and recent: HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. Here, I explain how scapegoating and blaming the LGBTQ+ community was, again, not only unjust, but backfired significantly in understanding the disease and working to reduce the number of cases of the virus in the U.S.
