Contagion! “The Black Death in the Late Middle Ages”

The COVID-19 pandemic renewed interest in the global history of infectious diseases. This year’s lecture series presented by History Department faculty and other experts focuses on different periods in world history when societies faced pandemics and their consequences.

In the first lecture, assistant professor of history Samuel Claussen, PhD, will address the bubonic plague and its impact on the late Middle Ages, from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The pandemic resulted in cultural and economic crises and transformed medieval European society and culture.

Admission is free, but registration is required.

The series will continue with:

• Nov. 11: David Livingstone, PhD, “The Seven Deadly Cholera Pandemics”
• Dec. 9: David Nelson, PhD, “Bubonic Plague in 19th Century China”
• Feb. 10: Michaela Reaves, PhD, “Smallpox and American Society”
• March 10: Chris Kimball, PhD, “The First Modern Pandemic: Spanish Influenza”
• April 21: “COVID-19 and the Effectiveness of Our Response

The series is sponsored by Cal Lutheran, the Thousand Oaks Grant R. Brimhall Library and Ventura County Library, generously funded in part by a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation grant. For information, contact David Nelson at dnelson@CalLutheran.edu.

Register