For the first Black History Month of the new decade, we should be focusing on learning about African American culture and its influence on America. The nation we know today has been significantly impacted by African American culture and inventions. So to spread the knowledge, here is a little known black history fact that your textbooks never told you and that your teachers never taught you!
In the early 1700’s colonists noticed that a disease called smallpox was spreading amongst them in Massachusetts. The illness was arriving with slaves on cargo ships to Boston. There was not much the authorities could do at the time. But this changed thanks to a man named Onesimus, an African slave sold to Cotton Mather who was a minister in Boston. Cotton Mather had bought Onesimus in 1706 and inquired about Onesimus’ past. When Mather asked Onesimus if he had ever had smallpox back in Africa, Onesimus described the practice of variolation to prevent smallpox epidemics.
Variolation consisted of taking infectious material (like pus) from the blisters of smallpox patients. This was done so that the smallpox symptoms would be at a lower risk and still create some sort of immunity in the future. Although people still developed symptoms and even died from smallpox, those who received this treatment had a much lower risk of dying.
Based on this experiment with variolation, the practice became more accepted in the colonies facing smallpox epidemics. By 1796, the vaccine based on cowpox would be developed by Edward Jenner. By the mid-1800s, variolation was discontinued in favor of immunization because it was safer and more effective than variolation. Although variation is no longer being used, Onesimus’ remedy is used as a blueprint to discover more ways to fight off different infections. This little known black history fact is a reminder that African Americans used their creativity to seek new inventions for their health. AND IF YOU DON’T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW!