Departments of University Professors, Health Policy, and American Studies, [corrected] George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2010 Apr;125 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):114-22.
When the 1918 influenza epidemic began, African American communities were already beset by many public health, medical, and social problems, including racist theories of black biological inferiority, racial barriers in medicine and public health, and poor health status. To address these problems, African Americans mounted efforts such as establishing separate hospitals and professional organizations and repudiating racist scientific theories. Contradicting prevailing theories about African Americans' increased susceptibility to disease, it appears that during the 1918 epidemic the incidence of influenza was lower in African Americans. Although the epidemic had a less devastating impact on African American communities, it still overwhelmed their medical and public health resources. Observations about the lower rates of influenza in African Americans did not derail racist theories about the biological inferiority of black people or overturn conceptualizations of black people as disease threats to white people. When the epidemic ended, the major problems that African Americans faced still remained.
当 1918 年流感大流行开始时，非裔美国人社区已经面临许多公共卫生、医疗和社会问题，包括黑人在生物学上低等的种族主义理论、医学和公共卫生领域的种族障碍，以及糟糕的健康状况。为了解决这些问题，非裔美国人做出了种种努力，例如建立了单独的医院和专业组织，并驳斥了种族主义的科学理论。与普遍存在的关于非裔美国人更容易患病的理论相反，在 1918 年的流感大流行中，非裔美国人的流感发病率似乎较低。尽管这场大流行对非裔美国人社区的影响没有那么严重，但它仍然使他们的医疗和公共卫生资源不堪重负。关于非裔美国人流感发病率较低的观察结果并没有破坏关于黑人在生物学上低等的种族主义理论，也没有颠覆将黑人视为对白人的疾病威胁的观念。大流行结束后，非裔美国人面临的主要问题仍然存在。
