Black women most likely to die in medieval London plague (actual BBC article)

BBC ^ | 11/21/2023

[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...

[Drew68]

Absolutely ridiculous pseudo-science that serves nothing more than to convey the propaganda the black people have always lived in England which is simply not true.

[Red Badger]

Black women of African descent?..........................

[euram]

3 out of the 5 African women who were in London at the time died, I suppose.

[logi_cal869]

In other news, researchers expose that blacks fighting the lines during the CW were disproportionately wounded by cannon fire.

/s

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, it was the Black Plague, after all.

[HandBasketHell]

No doubt these academics received a tax-payer funded grant with which to conduct their ‘research.’

[PeterPrinciple]

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.

---

of course, it does. there can be NO OTHER Reason.

premodern structural racisim.

We are now in post modern unstructured racism.

[omegatoo]

Well duh, it was the Black Death.

;-)

Love
O2

[PGR88]

the black people have always lived in England which is simply not true.

LOL. Saw something on Netflix recently about the court of Louis XVI - seems blacks were represented in his court at a rate of about 20%. Arabs and Mexicans too.

I couldn't watch it for more than 5 minutes, so couldn't tell you the name.....

[Chad C. Mulligan]

The Beeb outdoes itself!

[Chicory]

Such shoddy work...

First, no link to the study. SRSLY?!?!?

Second, no info on how many or what percentage of black people there were in the area studied.

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.

Third, no indication if actual results, such as there were 1/4th again as many black people in the plague cemeteries as would be expected from the population of black people at the time, and this was reflected in the lower number proportionately of black people in non-plague cemeteries.

Get a grip, BBC, lest you provide evidence that you are a mere propaganda machine for the extreme left.

[Jeff Chandler]

Plagues are racist.

[rdcbn1]

Lets just assume this bogus is true and take it at face value. How did these so called researchers rigorously determine that the alleged black people were subject to any from of racism?

Just as likely they were diplomatic royalty from Africa or serfs just like virtually all of the English subjects of the Crown were at the time.

[Agatsu77]

These a$$holes never stop!

[Robert DeLong]

The research is based on 145 individuals from three cemeteries.

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

So, 145 bodies from 3 cemeteries out of 35,00 Londoners who succumbed to the Black Death is proposed that the Black Death affected primarily black women.

What consideration was given to the cemeteries themselves? Sorry, not enough evidence to make a sound conclusion. They found what they wanted to prove their supposition & then wrote their summary. More pseudo-science in my opinion.

[Drew68]

LOL. Saw something on Netflix recently about the court of Louis XVI - seems blacks were represented in his court at a rate of about 20%. Arabs and Mexicans too.

There's a great "blackwashing" of European history currently taking place that attempts to convey the Orwellian lie that Europe has always been full of black and brown people.

Old man, "London sure has changed over the years."

Young man, "London has always looked like this!"

TV and movies, as you mentioned, now show blacks as part of everyday life in historical Europe, from "Bridgerton" to the "Vikings" sequel. Farcical "scientific" studies show ancient Scandinavians to have been dreadlocked blacks. And now this claptrap.

[Tell It Right]

The Great Pestilence / Bubonic Plague / Black Death wiped out 40% to 60% of Europe -- depending on who you ask. Higher rates among the dense populations (cities). It's crazy political-speak to make it sound like it hit blacks somehow harder than the rest.

For what it's worth it hit Asia and Africa hard as well, including sub-Saharan Africa. You know the high mortality rate among slaves in transit to the Americas that we hear about all the time? Fun fact: most of the deaths occurred inland before they reached the coasts (after blacks captured blacks as slaves then was transporting them to the coasts to put onto ships). Instead of marveling in horror at the amount of slaves who died in transit, we should treat it as -- well everybody else was dying too. It would be something if the slaves didn't die from plague.

Life in the cooling periods like the Little Ice Age and the Dark Age sucks (lower crop yields, less predictable rain patterns, more deaths by plague). Life in the warming periods like our Modern Warm Period is much better. That's why the Dims hate global warming. They don't want you to enjoy the good things in life.

[TomGuy]

The research is based on 145 individuals from three cemeteries.

Hardly a sufficient number to reach this conclusion:

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.

I would suspect that the researchers were predisposed to finding a certain conclusion and stopped digging when they found a number to support their predisposition. Those 3 cemeteries could have been in predominately black areas.

[Pontiac]

The African slave trade with Britain was pretty much non-existent before 1554 so that chances of there being any significant number of Africans in Britain in the 1300s is nil.

[bk1000]

Furthering the black victimhood schtick.
Snore…