Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Black women most likely to die in medieval London plague (actual BBC article)
BBC ^ | 11/21/2023

Posted on 11/21/2023 6:38:46 AM PST by Drew68

Black women of African descent were more likely to die of the medieval plague in London, academics at the Museum of London have found.

The study is the first archaeological exploration showing how racism influenced a person's risk of death during what was known as the Great Pestilence or Great Mortality.

The research is based on 145 individuals from three cemeteries.

The outbreak is believed to have claimed the lives of 35,000 Londoners.

Data on bone and dental changes of the 145 individuals from East Smithfield emergency plague cemetery, St Mary Graces and St Mary Spital formed the basis of the study.

It found there were significantly higher proportions of people of colour and those of Black African descent in plague burials compared to non-plague burials.

The likelihood of dying from the Great Pestilence was highest amongst those who already faced significant hardship, including exposure to famines that hit England during this time.

The research concluded that higher death rates amongst people of colour and those of black African descent was a result of the "devastating effects" of "premodern structural racism" in the medieval world.

What was the medieval plague?

Often referred to today as the Black Death, the outbreak of 1348-1350 was a deadly infectious disease that swept across Asia and Europe, killing millions of people.

Modern scientific research has identified this as a plague pandemic but in the mid-1300s people had no idea what the disease was or how to stop it.

It arrived in London in the autumn of 1348 and lasted until the spring of 1350.

More than half the population of London died. Emergency cemeteries had to be set up to bury them.

The disease was carried by rats who had infected fleas...

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; babylonbee; blackplague; eastsmithfield; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; london; middleages; plague; uk; unitedkingdom; wakanda
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 next last
To: Chicory
I would be surprised if there were a lot of people we consider black (eg, Sub-Suharan) in the UK during the plague as the plague occurred more than 50 years before the age of exploration in which Europeans started sailing long distances, such as to sub-Saharan Africa, and even then, it was the Portuguese who went.

I would bet that the non-Anglo-Saxon population of medieval Britain was at most a fraction of 1%.

There might not be any quick way to check this though as everything I can google will be full of lies.

21 posted on 11/21/2023 7:01:03 AM PST by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President. A conservative who fights and wins..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: euram

They are all dead, Jim.


22 posted on 11/21/2023 7:04:23 AM PST by silent majority rising
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

How many blacks were living in England in 1348? England conducted no maritime trade with any sub-Saharan African nations and would not do so for at least another century, so any blacks who wound up in England would have had to come from Muslim Spain, Morocco, the Barbary Coast, the Mameluke Sultanate, or the Ottoman Empire.


23 posted on 11/21/2023 7:07:37 AM PST by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

Heh, they tried making ancient Egypt black, and the Egyptians, rightly so, were having none of it.

There have been blacks pushing that trope for years.


24 posted on 11/21/2023 7:09:31 AM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

BLR covered this several years ago. Here is their in depth report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Krz-dyD-UQ


25 posted on 11/21/2023 7:11:36 AM PST by Yardstick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68
...social and economic environment played a significant role in people's health and this is most likely why we find more people of colour and those of black African descent in plague burials.

Total BS. There are other, more likely, reasons for the proportions. Something as simple as housing density could account for the sample difference. We already know that certain water wells in London were more contaminated than others. Indeed, until all plague burials are sampled, generalizing from a very limited sample makes it dangerous to generalize.

26 posted on 11/21/2023 7:20:36 AM PST by econjack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Agatsu77

Are you not convinced? LOL!


27 posted on 11/21/2023 7:21:16 AM PST by old school
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Black women of African descent were more likely to die of the medieval plague in London,

Both of them?

28 posted on 11/21/2023 7:27:06 AM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: econjack

Well, all the rich did escape to their country cottages.


29 posted on 11/21/2023 7:28:33 AM PST by Pikachu_Dad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

Clearly reparations are in order!


30 posted on 11/21/2023 7:31:30 AM PST by bigdaddy45
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

The bubonic plague Women, children , minorities hit hardest


31 posted on 11/21/2023 7:35:15 AM PST by njslim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

“The research concluded that higher death rates amongst people of colour and those of black African descent was a result of the “devastating effects” of “premodern structural racism” in the medieval world.

What was the medieval plague?

Often referred to today as the Black Death, the outbreak of 1348-1350 was a deadly infectious disease that swept across Asia and Europe, killing millions of people.”
———————
And perhaps these “researchers” missed the fact that the black death didn’t touch Africa in any significant way. Nor did many other outbreaks of what we now recognize to be the same disease that occurred over the prior 1000 or so years. As such, a greater proportion of those native to Europe and Asia were (and they’re descendants still are) immune, by virtue of the fact that their ancestors were immune, or at least were able to survive the disease, and reproduce. No such culling occurred in Africa, and that is likely the reason why the results found by these moronic people occurred.

Disease doesn’t give a rat’s ass what your race is, it cares how good your immune system is. If your immune system isn’t up to fighting the disease, then you are going to get sick and may die. If your immune system reacts very strongly against the disease, you either won’t get sick or, if you do, then you will likely recover. That is science, not this BS.


32 posted on 11/21/2023 7:38:03 AM PST by Ancesthntr (“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” ― A.E. Van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Black women of African descent?

As opposed to white women of South African descent.

33 posted on 11/21/2023 7:40:39 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Chicory
There seems to be the idea that all people from Africa would be what we consider today to be black. But that is not the case, especially regarding the area of Northern Africa, which was part of the Roman Empire from BC times, and about 500 AD were taken over by Vandals, who were from Germanic territory.

I would guess that most of the movement of people from Africa to Britannia during the Roman Empire, and even much later were not black, as we know it today.

34 posted on 11/21/2023 7:42:37 AM PST by Repealthe17thAmendment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Drew68
Well, according to the BBC, Anne Bolyn was black:

C507-E286-740-A-4-B30-95-CA-2-D481-E2-EE468-4-5005-c

DE2-D80-F2-B403-40-E2-A110-70-BC125-B9703-4-5005-c

35 posted on 11/21/2023 7:49:43 AM PST by Bon of Babble (You Say You Want a Revolution?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac

I saw the Robin Hood / Kevin Costner shlock movie and sure enough there was a black guy/ muslim hero/ good guy in it, I could not finish watching it. I believe in the 1300’s a moor would not have lasted too long in jolly old England.


36 posted on 11/21/2023 7:51:43 AM PST by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

Women and minorities hardest hit!


37 posted on 11/21/2023 8:07:57 AM PST by cartan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

It seems possible.People of African decent may have immune systems that are slightly different than those found in people of European decent. They may fight off certain infections better than Europeans...and Europeans may fight off other infections better than Africans.


38 posted on 11/21/2023 8:10:31 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

And how many black female skeletons did they find? Also, how many black males died, more or less than females? Sounds like this person is laying their modern biases onto archeology from 800 years ago.... aka only worth adding to the dung heap.


39 posted on 11/21/2023 8:28:22 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I’m not sure, but I think that at times Brits have referred to South Asians as ‘black’.


40 posted on 11/21/2023 8:44:40 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson