Marian Moser Jones: "Same Storm, Different Disasters - Race, Class, and Health in the 1926 Florida Hurricane"
Marian Moser Jones: "Same Storm, Different Disasters - Race, Class, and Health in the 1926 Florida Hurricane"
The Maryland Colloquium on the History of Technology, Science, and Environment is hosting a presentation by Dr. Marian Moser Jones, Assistant Professor in Family Science. Join Dr. Moser Jones as she revisits the 1926 Florida Hurricane.
How were black and white communities in Miami and the multiethnic farming communities of the Everglades affected by the 1926 hurricane, one of the most severe storms to hit South Florida during the 20th century? This paper suggests that racial discrimination has affected hurricane-related morbidity and mortality in a complex manner. While residential racial segregation made whites in Miami more vulnerable than blacks to the immediate impact of the storm, a different pattern emerged in the Everglades, and over the long-term.
Please email MCHOTSE@umd.edu with requests for the paper or any questions.
Maryland Colloquium in the History of Technology, Science, and Environment
The Colloquium meets in 2110 Taliaferro Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Social "hour," 4:00-4:30 pm; presentation and discussion of pre-circulated paper, 4:30-6:00 pm. Please send requests for the paper to tzeller@umd.edu.
The inaugural speaker for this year will be Dr. Marian Moser Jones, assistant professor in the School of Public Health, Family Science Department, University of Maryland. Her presentation is entitled: "Same Storm: Different Disasters. Race, Class and Health in
the 1926 Florida Hurricane." Please find an abstract below.
Directions: For public transportation, take the Metro to the College Park/U of Md stop, from where you can take a free shuttle bus, available to all, to campus. Taliaferro Hall is building no. 043 on the campus map:
http://transportation.umd.edu/parking/maps/map_campus.pdf
For car drivers: Taliaferro Hall is up the hill past the Memorial Chapel, off of U.S. Rte. 1 (Baltimore Ave.) in College Park. The University's web site (www.transportation.umd.edu) will provide a map as well as advice on parking. Many restricted lots at the university are available to the public after 4:00 pm, but attendees are advised to read all parking lot signs carefully.
Abstract: Racial and socioeconomic disparities in U.S. communities’ vulnerability to natural disasters have been little studied, despite documentary evidence pointing to the existence of these differences and suggesting a need for policy to address them. Historical case studies canprovide a valuable tool in understanding these disparities, as they elucidate exactly how patterns of racial discrimination have affected communities’ vulnerability to various natural hazards in specific temporal and geographic contexts. To illustrate the utility of this approach, this article examines the way that black and white communities in Miami and the multiethnic farming communities of the Everglades were affected by the 1926 hurricane, one of the most severe storms to hit South Florida during the twentieth century. The study suggests that racial discrimination has affected hurricane-related morbidity and mortality in a complex manner. While residential racial segregation made whites in Miami more vulnerable than blacks to the immediate impact of the storm, a different pattern emerged in the Everglades. Furthermore, racial inequities in longer-term aid to storm survivors, including provision of shelter and assistance with rebuilding and rehousing, created a post-disaster disparity in health and economic well-being between blacks and whites, and between more and less affluent groups. The involvement of the American Red Cross (ARC), an organization whose founding principles committed it to racial “neutrality” in its activities, did not mitigate this difference. The ARC relief practices instead illustrate how post-disaster recovery institutions and policies have exacerbated racial and socioeconomic inequities.