I want to clarify what the book The Mosquito has to say about slaves at the time of the Civil War and what was thought in the 19th century to be, as Abraham Linclon put it, "their impenetrable genetic defenses to mosquito-borne disease".
In fact, Lincoln's Surgeon General, William A. Hammond, as quoted by Winegard, asserted that "it was a well-ascertained fact" that Africans were "less liable to the affections of malarious affection than the Europeans".
When I read these statements yesterday, I took them as fact, but I should have waited to finish the chapter on the Civil War before I wrote in my 05-26-2026 blog post that slaves were generationally immune to mosquito-borne diseases.
You see, toward the end of the Civil War chapter, Winegard writes about freed slaves becoming soldiers and about their malarial rates.
I won't go into great detail in this post, but suffice it to say that African-American soldiers did suffer illness and death from malaria, leading Winegard to state the following: "The scientific stereotype of African immunity to mosquito-borne disease was discredited."
At times like this, when not only I have I made a mistake, but have given life to harmful stereotype, I am glad that it's commonly understood in the world of blogs that because bloggers often post while in the process of learning something or working our an idea, blog posts are prone to needing correction and clarification.
So here's mine, humbly submitted.
More clarifications might be coming. I'm confused about immunity and other things and will be rereading parts of this book seeking clarification.
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