Typhoid Mary: Lessons From An Infamous Quarantine

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

A special episode from our colleagues at NPR's history podcast Throughline.

When a cook who carried typhoid fever showed no symptoms and refused to stop working, authorities forcibly quarantined her for nearly three decades. Was she a perfect villain? Or a woman scapegoated because of her background?

Throughline hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei tell the story of Typhoid Mary — a story about journalism, the powers of the state, and the tension between personal freedom and public health.

Email the show at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.3	Hey nerds, Maddie here.
0:06.8	Today, the Shortwave crew is off for the holiday weekend,
0:10.4	so to make sure that you have something great to listen to,
0:13.5	our friends at NPR's History Podcast,
0:16.0	through line, have a story for you.
0:18.5	It's a story about the spread of disease
0:20.8	and the tension between personal freedom
0:24.0	and collective responsibility.
0:26.3	It's kind of perfect for where we are right now.
0:29.6	Enjoy the episode, enjoy your July 4th weekend,
0:32.5	and you know what?
0:34.2	Never hold lighted fireworks in your hand, okay?
0:38.0	And maybe rethink the whole sparkler thing
0:40.8	while you're at it, especially for the kids.
0:43.1	Those little suckers burn at 2,000 degrees.
0:46.8	You know what I'm saying?
0:48.3	All right, talk to you next week.
0:50.2	Bye.
0:51.0	And it's probable that Mary Mellon is a prisoner for life.
1:01.2	And yet she has committed no crime,
1:03.7	has never been accused of an immoral or rickid act,
	...

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