Maladies of Empire Livestream with Dr. Jim Downs

Learn how slavery, colonialism, and war helped the development of modern medicine

Join us on Thursday, December 9 at 1:00 PM on YouTube for a virtual program hosted by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. You can tune in by visiting youtube.com/user/nmcwm at the scheduled time.

Director of Education John Lustrea will talk with author Jim Downs about his latest book Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine. Downs will discuss how scientists studied exploited groups to understand the spread and treatment of infectious disease.

Jim Downs is Gilder Lehrman–National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Era Studies and History at Gettysburg College. He is the editor of Civil War History and author and editor of six other books, including Sick from Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

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