Voices in Crisis
As we see with the COVID-19 pandemic, families often stay together in times of crisis. In this excerpt from the Southern Oral History program we hear from a family in the rural South how they endured the a deadly flu epidemic in 1918.
Stella Foust Carden quarantined at her family’s farm in Schoolfield, VA, during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918.
The textile mill and area’s largest employer set up a temporary hospital in a welfare building to combat the pandemic.
She was 11 years old during her family’s quarantine. The local doctor visited daily and fed them a “little old thin soup, a little chicken soup.”
Listen to Carden’s entire oral history here.
Since 1973, the Southern Oral History Program has worked to capture the vivid personalities, poignant personal stories, and behind-the-scenes decision-making that bring history to life.
Photo courtesy of William Ferris, Professor Emeritus.