A Sickness No Medicine
Could Cure
Investigating the devastating impact of Smallpox on Indigenous people in the Canadian and American Pacific Northwest
Introduction
This project was conceived by a team of Indigenous and settler scholars, educators, and artists to shed light on the traumatic history of smallpox.
Despite some oral history and a few publications, the history of smallpox and its impact remains largely incomplete. Society has forgotten, or been taught to forget, that waves of smallpox killed 10s of thousands of Indigenous people in the Canadian and American Northwest. This population decline compromised First Nations peoples abilities to resist settler colonialism.
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A Sickness no Medicine Could Cure
- Epidemics
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Vaccination
History - Ongoing Research
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Results &
Publications - Curriculum
- Our Team
- Bibliography & Sources
Project Objectives
Centering Indigenous Priorities
Our primary focus is on the way the disease played out in multiple Indigenous communities and histories. We centre Indigenous research priorities and ethnohistorical methods to shed light on the traumatic history of smallpox.
Ongoing
Research
Bill Reid drawing published in Christie Harris, Ravens Cry, (Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1991) pp 125-26.
Drawing Attention to the True History of Smallpox
Our approach situates smallpox and settler colonialism within the unfolding of Indigenous history and historical consciousness, rather than seeing the impacts of smallpox on Indigenous people as a tragic footnote in the story of Canadian and American history.
Publications
Smallpox Mask (Museum of Vancouver Collection, AA 84)
Laying the Foundation of Basic Facts
We are working to lay a foundation that will enable us to answer the questions that Indigenous communities have raised. This includes documenting such basic matters as how many epidemics occurred, when and how they started, how far they spread, and what their fatality rates were.
About the
Epidemics
Map showing approximate spread of smallpox in 1782 and population estimates in the 1830s. Angelbeck, William O. "’They Recognize No Superior Chief” UBC, 2009, 92 1
Reminder
We encourage you to poke around, and then to return again. Our research is in progress and new things will be appearing. We will have additional resources for Indigenous community members academics, K to 12 educators and the general public.
But more than anything, we invite you to be respectful and to be open to understanding the complexities of smallpox history. We encourage you to explore the educational resources that we will create, and to avail yourselves of the scholarly and academic research and analysis that we are making available through publications and other forums like this website. Remember, smallpox caused a great deal of harm and trauma in the past. Remembering or forgetting it incorrectly can cause additional trauma today. Please be kind and respectful.