Wagatwe Wanjuki: "Many were poor children taken from the streets of English cities, often without their consent."

"Many were poor children taken from the streets of English cities, often without their consent."

"The U.S. was settled, in large part, by working indentured children... Over 1/2 the people who settled the Colonies south of New England came to America under contracts of indenture... The average age of an indentured servant was 14." ~Barbara Woodhouse, "Hidden in Plain Sight"

The contempt this country has for children, especially poor children, is foundational too

100%. it's not pointed out enough.

Because the relationship was seen as that of property. "The vaccine itself was carried beneath the skin of 22 orphan boys, ages three to nine. During the long crossing, the boys who had not previously contracted smallpox or cowpox were [intentionally, serially infected to keep the vaccine viable]."

How Children Took the Smallpox Vaccine around the World - JSTOR Dailydaily.jstor.org In 1803, nearly two dozen orphan boys endured long voyages and physical discomfort to transport the smallpox vaccine to Spain's colonies.

oh my god

After arriving, the expedition picked up more non-immune boys to use as new vaccine carriers including 26 Mexican boys. A total of 62 children took part in the 10-yr campaign. Four boys died. They traveled from Spain to the Caribbean, to Mexico, across S. America, to the Philippines, and to China.

How Children Took the Smallpox Vaccine around the World - JSTOR Dailydaily.jstor.org In 1803, nearly two dozen orphan boys endured long voyages and physical discomfort to transport the smallpox vaccine to Spain's colonies.

And this wasn't a humanitarian or public health endeavor. This was about protecting capital and protecting empire.

Well that's horrifying.

Yes, and smallpox was endemic to Europe and Britian, so outbreaks rose up every 10-20 years. This means that any adult alive survived a previous outbreak and were already immune to cow pox and small pox leaving only children or very old as possible hosts for cow pox. (1/2).

Pox Americana by Elizabeth A. Fenn has some great info on smallpox in the Americas. Three parts: a explainer about smallpox itself (very good IMO); the way the American colonists dealt (or didn't); and a perspective from the Spanish colonizers in the SouthWest. Unfort. All from colonizer pov. (2/2)

Any adult alive everywhere?

No, as far as I understand, this was the case in Britain and parts of Europe and not uniformly. My reply turned into a 7 part thread so let me know if you want to read that. I don't want to just dump it like a reply guy.

📌

It was one of the first things my mother noticed when we moved to the US and she started raising money for March of Dimes and UNICEF

oh... they have never cared.. Source. A child typing this who was and still is under poverty

one look at foster care and CPS and you know this country has never given a fuck about children

TIL that Fredrick Douglass saw my ancestors' journey 🙏 the history of a social category 'child' gives context to the stories of these youths, bound to a master who paid their passage once they arrived alive & obliged to settle the debt with their labor every man had a master & every woman had 2

the earliest ancestor my grandmother has traced coming to america was a 14 year old indentured servant who came from ireland in the late 17th century. his surname is my middle name and my father’s middle name.

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