Spanish Flu Progressivism

    In 1918, the world was swept up in an epidemic of influenza. To learn more about his I went to the American Historical Newspaper Database (http://goo.gl/r1kXOF)
 to read newspapers from the time period in the United States. I wanted to begin by learning ow the disease spread around the world so quickly. Most of the newspapers emphasized that the disease in the US was most concentrated on military bases. It is generally accepted that the disease spread to the US by way of immigrants and tourists from Europe and the made its way to military bases. As the men from the bases went to Europe, the disease spread more and more among soldiers from both sides. (http://goo.gl/fIODcz). I then wanted to learn more about how America responded to the epidemic. As the epidemic grew more and more prevalent, and fears of its lethality were realized, the response from America became more and more severe. Many cities closed down entirely; schools, theaters churches and parks were closed for fear of spreading the disease. In some cities, the right to publicly assemble was suspended in order to stifle the spread of the disease. I found this part particularly interesting when relating to the study of progressivism. It seems like something that would not have happened before this movement, but progressives would have wanted to push for reinterpreting the law in order to improve or protect the general public.