Contagion! “The First Modern Pandemic: Spanish Influenza”

The COVID-19 pandemic renewed interest in the global history of infectious diseases. This year’s lecture series presented by History Department faculty and other experts focuses on different periods in world history when societies faced pandemics and their consequences.

In the fifth lecture, Chris Kimball, PhD, will address the influenza pandemic of 1918-20, known (unfairly) as the Spanish flu, which arrived near the end of World War I and killed tens of millions of people. That human toll, on top of the war dead, provided the backdrop for dramatic political, social and economic changes. In the United States, the fight against the Spanish flu included advances in medicine and controversial strategies such as mask wearing — and, like today, public health became a heated political issue.

Admission is free, but registration is required.

The series will continue with:

• April 19: Dr. Robert J. Kim-Farley, “COVID-19 and the Effectiveness of Our Response”

The series is sponsored by Cal Lutheran, the Thousand Oaks Grant R. Brimhall Library and Ventura County Library, and generously funded in part by a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation grant. For information, contact David Nelson at dnelson@CalLutheran.edu.

Register