Bubonic Plague in San Francisco: You can't quarantine rats

What do you know about the bubonic plague? Probably that it killed a lot of people, it broke out in the middle ages, and rats were somehow involved. . . but did you know we ACTUALLY HAD A PLAGUE OUTBREAK IN SAN FRANCISCO?

That's right, in 1900 the plague came to the city, and it wreaked havoc for 8 years. Join us for a journey through crowded tenements, racist blockades, wooden pallets full of fleas, quack medicine, corporate conspiracies, and finally, FINALLY some actual science.

Show Notes

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

Plague and Fire: Battling the Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown by James C. Mohr

The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco by Marilyn Chase

The Plague Comes to San Francisco @ Here Lies a Story

Plague at the Golden Gate American Experience

City of Plagues by Susan Craddock