Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom
February 14, 2022
Stanford University historian Olivarius debuts with a captivating account of how endemic yellow fever terrorized early 19th-century New Orleans, killing some 150,000 residents and intensifying social inequality in ways that remained long after the virus and its mosquito vector came under control. Even though roughly half of those who contracted yellow fever died, residents of the bustling port city sought “acclimation”—the liberty gained by surviving the disease and achieving permanent immunity. White survivors used this status to bolster their social advancement, framing successful acclimation as proof of their racial superiority. The false claim that Black people were naturally immune to the disease was made to justify their continued use as enslaved workers on sugar cane plantations and other places where the virus was known to lurk. According to Olivarius, white elites profited from the “chaos and personal horror” caused by yellow fever and suppressed information about the disease in order to “keep attracting men of capital, talent, or wealth to the Gulf Coast.” Briskly interweaving the economic, environmental, social, and medical aspects of this story, Olivarius illuminates the complex workings of “immunocapitalism” and paints a vivid picture of antebellum New Orleans. This is a timely and thought-provoking look at how disease outbreaks have exacerbated inequality in America.