“It’s the flu…..Just the flu”: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in Recent History and how it Changed U.S. Society [] LIFELONG LEARNIN

Instructor: Tammy Belden
January 22, 24 and 26. 1-3 p.m.

Amidst a historical backdrop shadowed by a global pandemic, delve into the United States’ response to one of modern history’s deadliest outbreaks. Journey back to the catastrophic “Spanish flu” pandemic of 1918, a relentless force claiming 50 to 100 million lives worldwide in less than two tumultuous years. Witness a nation grappling with unpreparedness as the public health and medical sectors found themselves unequipped to combat this crisis. With the nation embroiled in war, the government’s focus lay elsewhere, heedless of mounting pleas from health authorities. Information was suppressed to uphold wartime morale, disregarding the escalating peril. Societal perceptions of poverty, class, and race seeped into the pandemic response, reshaping perspectives. Unlike conventional diseases, this contagion targeted the young and robust, altering the societal fabric in profound and enduring ways as the pandemic’s grip eventually loosened.

Tammy Belden received her bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and went to graduate school in cultural anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. She worked at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC for thirty years and, since retiring, has lectured as well as guided tours of the DC area speaking on a variety of topics in American History. Through her combined interests in cultural anthropology and history, she has delved deeply into how such crises affect American society in deep and lasting ways.