1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: Wilson, and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 2: Holly's episode on hydroponics from not that long ago made 6 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 2: just a casual reference to vitamin deficiency, and that reminded 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 2: me that I have been wanting to do an episode 8 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 2: on pelagra and kind of similar to our episode on 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 2: iodized salt from June of last year. If you don't 10 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 2: remember that episode, I knew the basics of why salt 11 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 2: was iodized, but not really the details of what a 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 2: problem goiter had been before they put the iodine in 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 2: the salt. I already had a general sense that pelagor 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 2: is a vitamin deficiency, and I also knew that it 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 2: was a widespread problem in the Southern UA other parts 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 2: of the US two, but especially the South in the 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 2: early twentieth century. That has also come up on the 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 2: show before, but that has never quite made sense to me, 19 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 2: because I knew pelagor had something to do with eating corn, 20 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 2: But people in the Americas have been eating corn for 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 2: at least ten thousand years, So why did it take 22 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 2: millennia for pellagra to become a problem, and also to 23 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 2: become a huge problem. The pelagra epidemic of the early 24 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 2: twentieth century may have been the deadliest epidemic of a 25 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 2: specific nutrient deficiency in US history. I could kind of 26 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 2: imagine various explanations for what would have caused us, but 27 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 2: I did not actually know the answer. And so now 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 2: we have this episode, and actually we have two of them, 29 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 2: because it turns out that while I had mostly heard 30 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 2: about pelagor in the United States, there's a whole hit 31 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 2: my history also in Southern Europe, especially in Italy, that 32 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 2: I was not aware of at all. So today we 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 2: will be talking about what pelagra is and why it 34 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 2: became a problem in Italy in the nineteenth century, and 35 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 2: also the first reports of its existence in the United States. 36 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 2: And then part two will have the rest of the 37 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 2: US story, which is gonna involve some pretty gross self 38 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 2: experimentation as well as the medical experiments that definitely would 39 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 2: not get the ok from ethics to review boards today. 40 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 2: As Tracy just said, pelagra is a vitamin deficiency, specifically 41 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 2: a deficiency in niosin, also called vitamin B three. The 42 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,399 Speaker 2: word niosin is derived from another name for this nutrient 43 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 2: nicotinic acid, because it was first identified and synthesized in 44 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 2: experiments involving nicotine in eighteen seventy three. That makes it 45 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 2: the first major vitamin to be synthesized at that point, 46 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 2: though western medicine had no concept of essential nutrients as 47 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 2: we know them today and the word vitamin hadn't even 48 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 2: been coined yet. That wouldn't happen for almost forty more years. 49 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 2: So people knew nicotinic acid existed, but they had no 50 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 2: sense of what it did in the body or how 51 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 2: important it is to human life. Without getting too far 52 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 2: into the weeds of biochemistry, the body breaks niosin down 53 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 2: into important coenzymes, including one called nicotinamine adenine di nucleotide, 54 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 2: or NAD. You can think of a coenzyme as a 55 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 2: helper molecule, helping enzymes to start necessary chemical reactions in 56 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 2: the body. NAD is particularly important. There are more than 57 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 2: four hundred enzymes in the human body that require NAD 58 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 2: to work, and that is more than any other vitamin 59 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 2: derived coenzyme. A lot of those chemical reactions are involved 60 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 2: with providing energy to cells, and some of the others 61 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 2: are part of a range of just critical cellular functions. 62 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 2: So when the body doesn't get enough niacin, it can't 63 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 2: make enough NAD, which means a lot of necessary chemical 64 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,919 Speaker 2: reactions cannot get started in the way that they should. Often, 65 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 2: the first places to show obvious signs of a problem 66 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 2: are parts of the body where cellular turnover is really fast, 67 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 2: so like the skin and the lining of the digestive tract, 68 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 2: or which use a lot of energy, like the brain. 69 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 2: This means pelagra can cause a whole collection of symptoms. 70 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 2: For the skin, there's a characteristic red or darkened rash 71 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,559 Speaker 2: that often occurs in the areas that get the most 72 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 2: sun exposure. This rash can scale and blister and peel. 73 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 2: For the digestive tract, there's diarrhea, and for the brain 74 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 2: there are problems with cognition and mental health. This collection 75 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 2: of symptoms is often summarized as the three d's, that's dermatitis, diarrhea, 76 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: and dementia. People don't always have all three d's at once, though, 77 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 2: and when they do, their condition is typically already very advanced. 78 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 2: And this can also be a vicious cycle because if 79 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 2: you have chronic diarrhea or dementia, that can dampen your 80 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 2: desire to eat, and then that makes it even harder 81 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 2: to get enough niasin. These symptoms can be resolved through 82 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 2: a nutritious diet that is high in niosin and today 83 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 2: niosin supplementation, but if it's left untreated, pelagra can progress 84 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 2: to a fourth d which is death. A lot of 85 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 2: foods are high in niasin, including fish like tunas, salmon 86 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 2: and anchovies, meats including beef, chicken, turkey, and pork, especially liver, 87 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 2: whole grains including brown rice, peanuts, various seeds, and potatoes, 88 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 2: and today a number of process foods are fortified with niosin. 89 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 2: We're going to talk more about that in Part two. 90 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 2: The body can also produce its own niosin from the 91 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 2: amino acid tryptofan, which is also found in a range 92 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 2: of foods, including poultry, various seeds, eggs, fish, cheese, and soybeans. 93 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 2: So people who have access to a variety of foods 94 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 2: and are able to acquire and eat and digest those 95 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 2: foods usually get enough niosin from their regular diet and 96 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 2: they aren't at a risk of developing polagra. That means, 97 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 2: in wealthier parts of the world today, the people who 98 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 2: are at the greatest risk of developing pelagra usually have 99 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 2: some other factor involved, like highly restrictive diets, whether they're 100 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 2: by choice or by necessity. Eating disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, and 101 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 2: various types of organ damage can also put people at 102 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 2: a greater risk for polagra, as can some illnesses and drugs. 103 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 2: Severe alcohol use disorder can lead to pelagra as well. 104 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 2: So today, pelagor is far more prevalent in poorer parts 105 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 2: of the world, where people don't have access to or 106 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 2: cannot afford a wide variety of foods, including places that 107 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 2: are receiving large amounts of food aid in the form 108 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 2: of donated corn. 109 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: Which brings us to the connection between corn, also called maize, 110 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: and pelagra. The term maze likely comes from the Taino 111 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: word for this plant. Its first appearances in English are 112 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: in translations of sixteenth century Spanish accounts of these plants 113 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: and foods in the Caribbean. The English word corn, on 114 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: the other hand, goes back centuries before maize was introduced 115 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: to Europe. It was originally an Old English word that 116 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: referred to grains. More generally, Indigenous people domesticated maize from 117 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: a wild grass called Teosinti and what's now southwest Mexico 118 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: about ten thousand years ago. By about seven thousand years 119 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: ago it was being grown in what's now Panama, and 120 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: by about six thousand years ago it had been introduced 121 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: in northern South America. Then, but for. 122 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 2: Roughly about four thousand years ago, a hybrid version of 123 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 2: this domesticated crop started to be introduced into areas farther away, 124 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: and before long, corn was a staple crop in much 125 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 2: of the Americas. As a plant, corn or maize had 126 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 2: lots of uses in the farming technique known as the 127 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 2: Three Sisters. Stalks of maize provided support for climbing bean vines. 128 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 2: Corn husks could be used to make mats or fill bedding, 129 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 2: or to make dolls. The stalks could be made into 130 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:50,319 Speaker 2: baskets or braided into cords. Dried cobs could be burned 131 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 2: as fuel, and of course, the kernels of the corn 132 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 2: could be eaten. 133 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: In the region where corn was first domesticated, the process 134 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: used to prepare the kernels for ea eating is now 135 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: known in English as niche timolization. This comes from the 136 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: Nuadal word niche tomol, which is the name for the 137 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: food at the end of this process. Combining the words 138 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: meaning ash and tamale. First, dried corn kernels are steeped 139 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: in alkaline water. Today this is often done with food 140 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: grade lime or calcium hydroxide, but historically it has also 141 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: involved things like ash, lye, limestone, and seashells. After steeping, 142 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: the kernels are drained and rinsed thoroughly. 143 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 2: This process removes the outer shell of the kernel, making 144 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 2: it softer and easier to digest. It also deactivates the germ, 145 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 2: which keeps the kernels from sprouting while they are being stored. 146 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 2: The resulting kernels can also be ground into a flower 147 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 2: called massa. Massa can be formed into a dough that 148 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 2: can be used to make foods like tamales and tortillas. 149 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 2: Whole kernels can also be boiled and used in dishes 150 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 2: like bosole. 151 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: All of that would have been apparent to the indigenous 152 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:09,439 Speaker 1: peoples who cultivated corn and developed this process, But nichemalization 153 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: also had another benefit that was not chemically understood until 154 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 1: far more recently. Corn contains niosin, but that niosin is 155 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: chemically bound in a way that means the body can't 156 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:25,079 Speaker 1: access or absorb it during digestion. That's not the case 157 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: with nichemalized corn. That process makes niosin and other essential 158 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: nutrients more available to the body. Those other essential nutrients 159 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: include calcium. There is thirteen times more calcium available in 160 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: nicheabilized corn than in corn that has not been through 161 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: that process. In general, indigenous peoples across the America's eate 162 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: and eat a variety of foods, but this meant that 163 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: if people were surviving mainly on corn because of some 164 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: kind of disaster or a hardship, they weren't likely to 165 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: develop pelagra. 166 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 2: Other indigenous peoples from other parts of these continents have 167 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 2: other names for corn that has been prepared through a 168 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 2: similar process. The word samp, which is a maize porridge, 169 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 2: has possible roots in both Lenape and Algonquian languages. The 170 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 2: word hominy comes from the Virginia Algonquian language, also known 171 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 2: as Powatan. When European colonists started arriving in the Americas, 172 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 2: they had their first encounters with corn, and they wrote 173 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 2: about it. The word niche temol didn't show up in 174 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 2: English until the late nineteenth century, but English speakers were 175 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 2: writing about foods like possole, tamales, and tortillas by the 176 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,439 Speaker 2: seventeenth century. The Oxford English Dictionary puts the first use 177 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 2: of the word hominy in English as coming from the 178 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:52,719 Speaker 2: true travels, adventures, and observations of Captain John Smith into Europe, Asia, Africa, 179 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 2: and America. John Smith is mostly known today for the 180 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,839 Speaker 2: highly romanticized versions of his encounter with Maduaca, also known 181 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 2: as Pocahontas. In a chapter covering the history of Virginia 182 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 2: from sixteen twenty four to sixteen twenty nine, Smith describes 183 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 2: the colonist's food and drink quote for drink some malt, 184 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 2: the Indian corn, others barley, of which they make good ale, 185 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 2: both strong and small, and such plenty thereof. Few of 186 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,280 Speaker 2: the upper planters drink any water, but the better sort 187 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,439 Speaker 2: are well furnished with sac aquavite and good English beer. 188 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 2: The servants commonly feed upon milk homily, which is bruised 189 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 2: Indian corn, pounded and boiled thick, and milk for the sauce, 190 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 2: but boiled with milk. The best of all will feed 191 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 2: off on it, and leave their flesh with milk, butter 192 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 2: and cheese with fish, bulls flesh, for they seldom kill 193 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 2: any other. Some of these foods made from nistimalized corn 194 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 2: made their way into the colonists' diets. Hamani became a 195 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 2: staple in parts of British colonial Ts Territory, where it 196 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 2: became associated with the poorer classes as a staple food. 197 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 2: Farther to the south than areas that were primarily colonized 198 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 2: by Spain, people were making and eating all kinds of 199 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 2: foods with nichealized corn, and these foods all still exist. 200 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 2: You can buy things like masaflour or masa arena and 201 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 2: hominy and foods made with them in stores or from 202 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 2: people who make them. And the Americas today, I will 203 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 2: note if it says hominy grits on the label and 204 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 2: it's like an instant gritz product that might not actually 205 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 2: be made with hominy, that might just be cornmeal, that 206 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 2: there's a bunch of grits manufacturers that are still using 207 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 2: the word hominy almost out of nostalgia, not out of 208 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,319 Speaker 2: what the food actually contains. 209 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 1: But when returning Europeans brought corn with them to Europe, 210 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 1: nichetionalization did not really go with them, and this caused problems. 211 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: We'll talk more about it after a sponsor break. 212 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 2: A lot of foods that are eaten around the world today. 213 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 2: Were first cultivated by the indigenous peoples of the Americas 214 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 2: and the Caribbean. When Europeans returned from voyages across the Atlantic, 215 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 2: they brought plants like potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, pumpkins, and of 216 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 2: course corn. Corn in particular had a massive impact on lives, ecology, 217 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 2: and agriculture in the places where it was introduced. It 218 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 2: had a high yield relative to the amount of work 219 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 2: that it took to grow it and the amount of 220 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 2: land that it required. It could be grown in relatively 221 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 2: poor soil, including soil that wasn't suitable. 222 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: For other crops. 223 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 2: In some regions, the growing season was long enough that 224 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 2: people could grow a crop of wheat and then a 225 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 2: crop of corn in the same field in the same year. 226 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 2: People could also raise corn to feed animals like pigs, 227 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 2: or they could feed parts of the corn plant to 228 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 2: their livestock while eating most of the kernels themselves. The 229 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 2: availability of maize as a food source has been credited 230 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 2: with helping to protect people from famine in parts of Europe, Asia, 231 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 2: and Africa, and with supporting population growth in areas where 232 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 2: it made it easier for people to get enough to eat. 233 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 2: It seems likely that the first people to bring maize 234 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 2: to Europe had at least some experience with indigenous methods 235 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 2: of growing and preparing it, even without the understanding of 236 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 2: how that related to its nutrient content, but that knowledge 237 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 2: wasn't maintained as maize continued to be introduced across the continent. 238 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 2: Corn spread rapidly as an easy and cheap source of food, 239 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 2: and in some regions it had completely supplanted other grains 240 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 2: within about two hundred years. Eating corn that hasn't been 241 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 2: nischemalized is it's not really a big nutritional problem as 242 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 2: long as you are eating other foods as well, and 243 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 2: some of those other foods contain niacin. But in places 244 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 2: where corn became the cheapest and most available thing, there 245 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 2: were inevitably people who wound up subsisting on it almost exclusively. 246 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 2: Especially in times of hardship, war, or famine, There were 247 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 2: scattered outbreaks of pellagra as a result. Usually these were 248 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 2: among the poorest people in a particular region. Sometimes these 249 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 2: were seasonal, starting in the late winter and spring, after 250 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 2: people had been living mostly off of stored corn over 251 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 2: the winter, and then resolving as people had access to 252 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 2: a wider variety of foods after the harvest. The first 253 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 2: known description of pelagra in writing was by Spanish physician 254 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 2: Gaspar Caazzali Julien in seventeen thirty five, who wrote about 255 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 2: a disease that was occurring among peasants in Asturias, on 256 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 2: the northern coast of Spain. He described it as the 257 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 2: region's most horrible and stubborn disease. He called this mal 258 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,679 Speaker 2: de la rosa or rose disease, after the red rash 259 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,879 Speaker 2: that appeared on patient's bodies. This often happened around the 260 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 2: spring equinox, but it could occur during other parts of 261 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 2: the year as well, and he talked about this rash 262 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 2: as frequently appearing on the hands and feet, but also 263 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:28,680 Speaker 2: on the front part of the lower neck, extending down 264 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:33,160 Speaker 2: across the clavicles like a collar. Today, this particular part 265 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: of the rash is known as the Kazal collar or 266 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 2: the Kazal necklace. At the time, this was thought of 267 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,679 Speaker 2: primarily as a skin disease, and it was sometimes mistaken 268 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 2: for Hanson's disease, which is also known as leprosy. Although 269 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 2: there were pockets of pelagra reported all around parts of 270 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 2: southern Europe and the Mediterranean, it became a more widespread 271 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,880 Speaker 2: problem in what's now northern Italy, where one of the 272 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 2: staple dishes we polenta. Polenta is often made with corn today, 273 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 2: but it predates the introduction of corn to Italy. It 274 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 2: had previously been made with various other grains or with 275 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 2: nut or bean meal. People across economic classes ate polenta, 276 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 2: but it was only the poorest people who needed to 277 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,360 Speaker 2: survive only on polenta and not much else. So when 278 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 2: corn replaced other crops and became the prime ingredient in polenta, 279 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 2: pelagra started to spread. The first person known to have 280 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 2: described pelagra in Italy was physician Francesco Fropoli in seventeen 281 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,439 Speaker 2: seventy one. He published his work in Milan, in the 282 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 2: Lombardi region of northern Italy, where he worked at the 283 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 2: Ospidale Maggiore. He was the person to coin the term 284 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 2: pelagra from Lombard words meaning rough skin. By seventeen seventy eight, 285 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 2: Italian physician Gaetano Strombio had established a hospital just for 286 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,919 Speaker 2: pelagra patients in Lignano, Italy, and he also wrote a 287 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 2: three volume work on the disease. It had not taken 288 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,439 Speaker 2: long to make a connection between the disease and the 289 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 2: consumption of corn, and Strombio thought that it was caused 290 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:21,199 Speaker 2: by spoiled bread and polenta. In seventeen eighty nine, Francesco 291 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 2: Fanzago was a student doctor in Padua and described a 292 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 2: patient at the hospital where he worked. She seemed to 293 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:30,719 Speaker 2: be in a daze and she had a dark, peeling 294 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 2: rash on her hands and arms. She lived in the country, 295 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,640 Speaker 2: and her mother told Fanzago that for the past two years, 296 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 2: every spring she had become so weak that she could 297 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 2: not do her work. Fanzago realized that this sounded like 298 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 2: the peleegra that had been reported in Lombardi, and that 299 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:50,880 Speaker 2: it was probably the same condition as the one doctor's 300 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 2: in Padua had been describing as pellerina or peeling off. 301 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: So a lot of. 302 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,399 Speaker 2: What we have read so far has been focused on 303 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:02,959 Speaker 2: the rat and on other kind of more general symptoms 304 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 2: like weakness. But in eighteen oh six, physicians Azzare Ruggieri 305 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 2: of Venice published an account of the case of Mattillo 306 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 2: lavat levatt had wanted to become a priest, but poor 307 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 2: economic circumstances had led to him working as a shoemaker instead, 308 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 2: and that really was not what he had wanted to do. 309 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,719 Speaker 2: Levatt's symptoms initially included a flaking rash on his hands 310 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 2: and feet, but then in eighteen oh two, he developed 311 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 2: a serious mental illness which involved an intense fixation on religion. First, 312 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 2: he castrated himself, and then he repeatedly tried to publicly 313 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,640 Speaker 2: crucify himself. One attempt involved nailing one of his hands 314 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 2: and both of his feet to a cross that was 315 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 2: tied to a beam inside of a building, and then 316 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 2: maneuvering the cross out the window. Bystanders came to his 317 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,719 Speaker 2: aid and he survived this, but he died in an 318 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 2: asylum in eighteen oh When this account was translated into 319 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 2: English about a decade later, the translator didn't have a 320 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 2: word for dietesi pelagarossa, and was translated into leprosy because 321 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 2: at this point, pelagor had not really been introduced into 322 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 2: the English speaking world as a concept. By the early 323 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 2: nineteenth century, physicians in Italy had started to notice some 324 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 2: similarities between pelagra and another vitamin deficiency disease, scurvy, which 325 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 2: is caused by a lack of vitamin C. They didn't 326 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: yet know what vitamins were, but both diseases involved the skin, 327 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 2: and both of them progressed and worsened over time. By 328 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 2: the mid nineteenth century, physicians in Europe had started to 329 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 2: think of diseases as each having one distinct cause. While 330 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 2: there was general agreement in Italy that the cause of 331 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 2: pelagor was something related to coorn, a fierce disagreement developed 332 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:04,639 Speaker 2: about exactly how corn was involved. Physician Filippo Desana and 333 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 2: pathologist Carlo Frua wrote a study in eighteen fifty six 334 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 2: that walked through a number of potential causes for pelagra, 335 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 2: but then argued that the primary cause was a diet 336 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 2: made up primarily of maize, which they argued did not 337 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:26,479 Speaker 2: contain enough protein to support human health. Although vitamins still 338 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,719 Speaker 2: had not been discovered, the first descriptions of proteins to 339 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 2: go back to the late eighteenth century, and the word 340 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,879 Speaker 2: protein had been coined almost twenty years before this. The 341 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 2: term protein comes from Greek meaning the first quality, and 342 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 2: chemist Gerhard Johann Mulder had chosen this name because protein 343 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 2: was believed to be a key component of food that 344 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 2: was essential to human life. For a while, the idea 345 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 2: that corn had insufficient protein was the primary idea for 346 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 2: the cause of pelagra in Italy. Then, in eighteen sixty nine, 347 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 2: Cesare Lombroso theorized that pelagra was being caused not by 348 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,959 Speaker 2: the protein content of maize, but by a toxin that 349 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 2: was produced as it decayed. 350 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 1: He thought that people who ate fresh, wholesome maze would 351 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: not develop pelagra, but people who ate spoiled maize would. 352 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,919 Speaker 1: This led to intense debate in Italy about whether this 353 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: was a disease of deficiency or of toxicity, and there 354 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: were ongoing arguments in support of one conclusion or the other. 355 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,680 Speaker 1: There wasn't a sense that it might be contagious. Doctors 356 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 1: and nurses cared for patients who were not kept isolated 357 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: for the rest of the wards. 358 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 2: By the late nineteenth century, pelagora had reached really epidemic 359 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 2: proportions in a lot of northern Italy, with patients overwhelming 360 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 2: hospitals and mental institutions. According to census records, there were 361 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 2: more than one hundred thousand polagra patients in Italy in 362 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty one. Medical community still didn't entirely agree on 363 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,679 Speaker 2: exactly what was going on. Lombroso's idea of contaminated or 364 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 2: decayed corn had gotten a lot of traction, so eventually, 365 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 2: on July twenty first of nineteen oh two, the Italian 366 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 2: parliament passed a law meant to try to curb pelagra. 367 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 2: This law included banning the sale of amateur musty or 368 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:28,439 Speaker 2: spoiled maize. Sanitation officials had the right to inspect grain 369 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 2: processing and storage facilities. The law also included funds for 370 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 2: health authorities to monitor pelagor cases and for the care 371 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 2: of pelagora patients. Cases of pelagor had to be reported, 372 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 2: and food was required to be distributed to poor polagra 373 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 2: patients and their families. The law also required the building 374 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,399 Speaker 2: of public maize drying ovens and the distribution of salt. 375 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 2: School lunches were also provided to children in areas that 376 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 2: had high rates of pelagra. Rates had already been declining 377 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 2: for at least a decade before this law was passed, 378 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 2: and they continued to drop afterward. According to the nineteen 379 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 2: oh five census, there were fifty five thousand polagrapations, so 380 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,159 Speaker 2: that eighteen eighty one number had been cut roughly in half. 381 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,719 Speaker 2: The number of new cases was also dropping steadily, although 382 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 2: that progress seemed slower in central and southern Italy, where 383 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 2: pelagra had been less prevalent than in the North. The 384 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 2: number of deaths per year also dropped from almost four 385 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 2: thousand in eighteen ninety eight to only three hundred seventy 386 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 2: six in nineteen oh seven. I've already talked about how 387 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 2: pelagor was caused by a deficiency in nison, that it 388 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 2: was not about spoilage in the corn. But some aspects 389 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,360 Speaker 2: of this law may really have helped with the pelagorates 390 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,399 Speaker 2: in Italy, especially the ones that involved providing food and 391 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 2: financial support to the affected people. In the late nineteenth century, 392 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 2: there had also been a wave of emigration out of Italy, 393 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 2: including to the United States, and often those immigrants sent 394 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 2: money back home, and then that money made it possible 395 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 2: for people to afford a richer variety of foods, including 396 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 2: foods that contained nyasin. However, as pelagora was declining in Italy, 397 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 2: it was starting to escalate in the US, and we'll 398 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 2: get into that after a sponsor break. The first known 399 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 2: description of pellagra in US medical literature was in nineteen 400 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 2: oh two, the same year that Italy passed its law 401 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 2: to try to curb the rate of pellagor. There there 402 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 2: were certainly cases and outbreaks in the United States before 403 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,679 Speaker 2: that point, but most nineteenth century medical textbooks in the 404 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 2: United States did not even mention this disease. Henry Fauntleroy Harris, 405 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 2: who was the person who wrote this nineteen oh two report, 406 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 2: published a whole book on pelagra seventeen years later, and 407 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 2: its preface comments on how English writers had paid little 408 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 2: attention to the disease while there was quote an enormous 409 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 2: foreign literature on the subject. That enormous foreign literature was, 410 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 2: of course, mostly in Italian, and it went back almost 411 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 2: two hundred years. It wasn't until pelagora was firmly recognized 412 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 2: as a serious problem in the US that researchers looked 413 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,239 Speaker 2: back at earlier disease reports and just found evidence of 414 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 2: misdiagnosed Pelagora outbreaks going back to at least the eighteen thirties. 415 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 2: Harris was a doctor who lived in Atlanta who also 416 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 2: served as secretary of the Georgia State Board of Health, 417 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 2: although he may not have started in that role yet 418 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 2: when he reported on this case. The patient from his 419 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 2: nineteen oh two report was a farmer, and a staple 420 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 2: of his diet was corn. He had occurring debilitating illness 421 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 2: that developed every spring, which had been going on for 422 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 2: about fifteen years. Every year, his mental health declined and 423 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,360 Speaker 2: he experienced blistering of the skin on his arms and legs. 424 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 2: This would start to get better over the summer and 425 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 2: then resolve when the weather cooled. This farmer also had hookworm, 426 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 2: which was treated, and he was given arsenic and iron 427 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 2: as a pelagra treatment. This was a common treatment for 428 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 2: pelagra at the time, but when that didn't work, he 429 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 2: was advised to move to a cooler climate. The cases 430 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 2: and outbreaks from the nineteenth century in the US likely 431 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 2: stemmed from social and economic factors. The Southern United States 432 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 2: had faced massive destruction and hardship during the Civil War 433 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 2: and as a consequence of the centuries of enslavement that 434 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:54,800 Speaker 2: had led to the war. The post war reconstruction had 435 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 2: included efforts to rebuild the South and to offer aid 436 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 2: and assistance to the freed people. Toward the end of reconstruction, 437 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 2: Southern business and civic leaders started advocating for a new South, 438 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 2: one that would be modernized and industrialized and urbanized, with 439 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 2: the building of new mills and factories and mines, and 440 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 2: the construction of roads and railroads to connect these urban hubs. 441 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 2: Agriculture was still a big part of the Southern economy, 442 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 2: but the primary focus was cash crops like cotton and tobacco. 443 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 2: The people who were hyping up the idea of a 444 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,640 Speaker 2: new South were framing it as something that would modernize 445 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 2: the region and bring prosperity while still retaining a strong 446 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 2: Southern identity and Southern traditions, but that did not happen 447 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 2: in practice. There was a wave of new mills and factories, 448 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 2: but wages for people who worked in them were dramatically 449 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 2: lower than what they would have been paid for the 450 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 2: same jobs in the North. Although the reconstruction era had 451 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 2: worked toward equal rights for black people, white politicians and 452 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 2: activists had intentionally rolled back most of those gains. These 453 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 2: new industrial jobs were segregated, with black workers generally making 454 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 2: the lowest pay for the least desirable work. A system 455 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 2: of sharecropping also kept farmers tied to the land that 456 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 2: they were working. In a lot of cases the land 457 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 2: they had been working while they were enslaved, and also 458 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 2: kept them in debt to the landowner. And all of this, 459 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 2: of course connected to the food that people were eating. 460 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 2: Sharecropping was innately exploitive and sharecroppers needed to earn as 461 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 2: much money as they could to pay off their debts 462 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 2: to landowners and to make ends meet, so a lot 463 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 2: of them planted as much of a cash crop as 464 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 2: possible that left little to no land to grow food 465 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 2: to live on. In some cases, some of their pay 466 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 2: for their crops was in the form of credit at 467 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 2: a plantation commissary. They could use this to buy provisions, 468 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 2: but only the provisions that the landowner chose to stock. 469 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 2: This was similar to the situation for mill workers, who 470 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 2: frequently lived in company towns and were paid in company 471 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 2: script that could only be used at the company store. 472 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 2: Sharecroppers and mill workers and other people facing similar economic 473 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 2: hardship and exploitation had a similar foundation to their diets. 474 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 2: It was often described as the three ms, meal, meat, 475 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 2: and molasses. The meal was often corn meals, since corn 476 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 2: was cheap by this point it was being grown in 477 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 2: vast quantities in the Midwest and shipped to the South 478 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 2: by train. The meat was usually fatback or salt pork, 479 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,240 Speaker 2: in other words, some of the cheapest cuts of meat, 480 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 2: which are very fatty and don't contain much niasin. Molasses 481 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 2: also contains a little bit of niasin, but again not much. 482 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 2: In addition to being inexpensive, these were often what was 483 00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 2: stocked at company stores and commissaries. Thanks to their cost 484 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 2: and their long shelf life. People who had the ability 485 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 2: to buy or grow other foods to supplement those three 486 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 2: ms might be able to avoid developing pelagra, But the 487 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 2: poorest people in the United States, especially in the South, 488 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 2: were living off of that and very little else. And 489 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 2: then in nineteen oh one, technological developments probably made this 490 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 2: situation worse. John Beal of Decatur, Illinois patented the beal 491 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 2: De Germinator. This machine mechanically removed the germ and outer 492 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 2: brand layers from corn kernels, making it possible to separate 493 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 2: all these parts and use them for different purposes. This 494 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 2: made it easier and more efficient to make corn products 495 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 2: without the germ, which meant that there was a way 496 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 2: to keep corn from sprouting during storage without niche themalizing it. 497 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 2: There were other mechanical processing tools and milling tools before this, 498 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 2: but the beald De Germinator was a big improvement over 499 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 2: those earlier tools. This also made it a lot more 500 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 2: possible to sell low quality meal that had been made 501 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 2: from the least nutritious parts of the corn. It's not 502 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 2: conclusively proven that this degerminator put people at greater risk 503 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 2: of developing pelagra, but within a few years of its introduction, 504 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 2: doctors were reporting outbreaks of pelagora in places like orphanages 505 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,880 Speaker 2: and institutions, and by the nineteen teens the US government 506 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 2: was actively investigating. That is all what we will get 507 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 2: to next time. 508 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: Do you have some listener mail to take us out 509 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: of this peppi top idea I do. 510 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 2: This is from Julie and Mackenzie, and Julie wrote an 511 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 2: email titled Mary Bethune Turned Lincoln Around? So, Julie wrote, 512 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 2: Holly and Tracy. When I moved back to DC in 513 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 2: twenty nine, I found a park close to me while 514 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 2: walking my dog. It had a statue of Mary MacLeod Bethune, 515 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,839 Speaker 2: and since I didn't know who she was, I checked 516 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,399 Speaker 2: to see if the history podcast I've been enjoying for 517 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 2: more than ten years had ever done an episode on her. 518 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,320 Speaker 2: You had not, so I was thrilled that you finally 519 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 2: did one. The statue is in Lincoln Park, so named 520 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 2: because a statue depicting Lincoln in a slave casting off 521 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 2: his chains is there. The Emancipation Group was commissioned by 522 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:32,840 Speaker 2: recently freed slaves in eighteen seventy five. Lincoln originally faced 523 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 2: west toward the Capitol, but when the married Bethune statue 524 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 2: was added to the park in nineteen seventy four, Lincoln 525 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 2: was turned to the east so that he now faces her. 526 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,160 Speaker 2: Bethune statue is the first African American of any sex 527 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,839 Speaker 2: in the first honorable woman on DC public lands. As 528 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 2: an aside, the Lincoln statue has always made me uncomfortable 529 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 2: the way Lincoln looms over the kneeling black man in 530 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 2: a very white savior kind way. Apparently I'm not the 531 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000 Speaker 2: only one, because during the Black Lives Matter summer of 532 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,640 Speaker 2: twenty twenty there were attempts to tear it down, along 533 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 2: with so many other statues. The National Park Service barricaded 534 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 2: it and it remains in Lincoln Park unmolested. Here's the links. 535 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 2: You can make up your own minds. I've attached a 536 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 2: couple of my own very early morning dog walk doc 537 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 2: greate photos of these two statues. One of them includes 538 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,319 Speaker 2: my pet tax Mackenzie is my blonde brindle snaffy pit 539 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 2: mix with goth eyeliner who has very big feelings and 540 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 2: is far too excited to meet people, but is also 541 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 2: the world's best snuggler. The muzzle is to prevent vet 542 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 2: visits because given the opportunity, she will eat anything and everything, 543 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 2: food or not. The pic in the car is a 544 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 2: road trip where we were listening to stuffy miss in 545 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 2: history class. Thank you for all you do. As long 546 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,840 Speaker 2: as you keep making them, I'll keep listening. Julie and Mackenzie. 547 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: Uh Kudie. 548 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 2: I am familiar with this, the statue of Lincoln. It's 549 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,240 Speaker 2: come upon the show before when we have been talking 550 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 2: about a different statue of Lincoln. I needed to go 551 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 2: make sure it wasn't this one we were talking about, 552 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 2: because it does. It looks exactly like the email said. 553 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 2: And you know, while Lincoln did sign the Emancipation Proclamation 554 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 2: and all that, the work that was done toward emancipation 555 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 2: was so profoundly led by enslaved people themselves putting the 556 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 2: pressure on to do that. 557 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 1: And that's not what it looks like from right this 558 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 1: from the sculpture. 559 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:42,919 Speaker 2: We have a very adorable picture of Mackenzie at the 560 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 2: Mary McLeod Bethune statue. I love that statue so much, 561 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,400 Speaker 2: and then off, what a cutie pie in the car and. 562 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: Little Carnes if I ever meet Mackenzie. There's no such 563 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 1: thing as too friendly. It's fine. 564 00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I I definitely. I have said before folks 565 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,799 Speaker 2: that are having their dogs out leashed in public. I 566 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 2: love this so much. I know so many folks who 567 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 2: have had really tragic encounters with off leash animals, And 568 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 2: so anytime I see somebody whose puppa dog is on 569 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:18,919 Speaker 2: a leash, I'm like, I love you, We're friends. I'm 570 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,880 Speaker 2: too anxious for any other option, you know what I mean, Like, 571 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,799 Speaker 2: I can't imagine. Yeah, that poor dog would run away 572 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,000 Speaker 2: from me out of like the sheer desire to get 573 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 2: away from my bad energy. They would be like, you 574 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,120 Speaker 2: are a nervous wreck. I cannot deal with you right now, 575 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:38,759 Speaker 2: roll out. I got stuff to do. Also totally understandable 576 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:41,800 Speaker 2: about needing to keep your dog out in the world 577 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 2: from eating things that should not be eaten. I get 578 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 2: having cats who are our cats typically don't eat things, 579 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 2: except for the one who just perpetually wants to chew 580 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 2: on plastic. 581 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 1: We have two plastic chewers. What is up with that? 582 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:01,239 Speaker 1: I don't know it. 583 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 2: It's it's a whole meme about it on TikTok or 584 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 2: there was a while back. But yeah, but I there 585 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 2: are a couple of things that I know can cause 586 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 2: big problems for cats if they are eaten that I'm 587 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:18,839 Speaker 2: always on the watch for around our home to make 588 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,439 Speaker 2: sure they get disposed of properly, like dryer sheets for one. 589 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:25,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. 590 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:28,360 Speaker 2: Anyway, so thank you so so much for this email 591 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 2: these adorable pictures. If you would like to send us 592 00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:33,839 Speaker 2: some notes about this or any other podcast where at 593 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:38,279 Speaker 2: history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. You can subscribe to 594 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,320 Speaker 2: our show on the iHeartRadio app and wherever else you 595 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 2: like to get your podcasts. We'll be back on Wednesday 596 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:53,319 Speaker 2: with part two of this episode. Stuff You Missed in 597 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 2: History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts 598 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:01,360 Speaker 2: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, podcasts, or wherever you 599 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:02,800 Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows.