What the Spanish Flu Had to do With Women's Suffrage
Kenneth C. Davis, author of the "Don't Know Much About" series and the forthcoming young adult history, More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War (Henry Holt and Co., 2018), talks about one unintended consequence of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.
@kennethcdavis says the women we think of as the Rosie the Riveters of WWII were also working outside the home in WWI. When the war ended, they had more reason to demand the right to vote.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 9, 2018
And @kennethcdavis concludes there's no question that the war, the flu and suffrage issues are all connected. pic.twitter.com/SQuMo3njKR
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 9, 2018
In 1918, there was no federal agency monitoring health around the country the way the @CDCgov does now, says @kennethcdavis. There's no question today a gov't body would recognize, report the # of cases going on around the country.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 9, 2018
About 30K died in NY of the flu in the fall of 1918. NY had a much better hospital system than most other cities so fared better. NYC kids were told to come to school; thought was they'd be better cared for in school than at home, says historian @kennethcdavis.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 9, 2018
