Miranda+Tjelta+-+Disease

S: Letter from Lewellyn, overseer, to Cameron, master. Two slaves died, Old Peter and William- one of “congestive fever” and one of “cramp colick”. Ten others from the plantation are sick. Lewellyn has fifty-two of some size of fodder with twenty more coming. There is a good corn crop, with indifferent cotton. Joe’s health has improved, Henderson’s hasn’t.
 * DISEASE**
 * **Source 1: Lewellyn, 1845-08-01 **

C: August 1st, 1845 -- Location of Greene County, AL. Lewellyn was writing to inform his boss and the slaves’ master and owner of their health and productivity, as well as the condition of two crops—corn and cotton. Several slaves had already been sick and possibly others on the plantation. The time and location was explicitly stated.

I: There is no clarification if any of the sick are whites living on the plantation, or if they are all slaves. This wouldn’t have been necessary in the time period, because it’s assumed that Cameron would have known who the people being listed where. Although, Cameron did have a huge amount of land and slaves, so it can’t be said for sure that he knew who all the people listed were. The letter doesn’t mention if any of the sick saw doctors, which can lead to the conclusion that the people listed were slaves, because medical attention probably would have been sought for whites living on the farm. Because cotton was a cash crop, Lewellyn could have been concerned with it being “indifferent.”

M: What is fodder? How old were the slaves who died? What is congestive fever and cramp colick? Are they easily treated? || S: Written to Cameron from Lewellyn. Sixty-five hogs have been killed with ten more to go. Old Simon was identified as sick on Thursday and even though the doctor came on Friday, he died Friday night. He died of “congestive chill”. Four more were brought into the house in addition to the seven that were already in the house. They aren’t very sick, but they are dying in the area.
 * **Source 2: Lewellyn, 1846-09-21 **

C: Green County, Alabama, September 21st, 1846. Lewellyn was writing to inform his boss that one of his, presumably, slaves had died and that several more were sick. Some of these slaves had already been sick and he was following up on them.

I: Lewellyn again doesn’t specify that it’s slaves that are sick, but it can be assumed he’s talking about slaves because of his use of “they”, which signals that he is talking about a group he views as different from him. The sick also had to be brought into the “house”, which could be referring to the large plantation home.

M: What is congestive chill? Is it easily treated? || S: Dr. Ring requested that the cotton be sent to the warehouse and landing. He informs Cameron that he is currently treating four patients. Dr. Ring was called to the plantation to care for a slave, Limon, who he describes as about fifty years old with an athletic build. Dr. Ring places no blame on Lewellyn, who had given Limon medicine twice earlier for “chills”. When Limon collapsed, it was too late for the doctor to do anything.
 * **Source 3: Ring, 1846-09-23 **

C: From Hobbie, Ala. On September, 24 to Stagville Office, Orange County, North Carolina. Dr. Ring needed to ask Cameron for a favor, the location for the delivery of the cotton, and needed to inform him that Limon had died at no fault of the overseer.

I: Limon is a slave, because his age is unknown, he collapsed in the fields, and the blame is not on the fault of Lewellyn, the overseer. If Limon was recently sick with the chills twice before and then fell over in the field, it is possible that he wasn’t given enough time to recover from each episode before returning to work. In reassuring Cameron that Lewellyn is not to blame for the slave’s death, the doctor hints that Cameron might have blamed Lewellyn for the deaths of other slaves. Most of the letter focused on the doctor’s request regarding the crops, this was more important to him than the health of the slaves.

M: What does convalescing mean? What medicine was given to treat the chills? After the medicine was given, did Limon have enough time to recover before being sent back to work? Who are the other patients the doctor is treating? || S: Jafus and Molly Law are doing better but Caroline and Fanny Johnson are sick. The doctor came to check on them and they might have “dropsy”. Reassures Cameron that the sick will be given attention.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source 4: Lewellyn, 1846-10-22 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">C: Greene County, Alabama, October 22, 1846. Caroline and Fanny have been sick, so Lewellyn needs to keep Cameron up-to-date on their health.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I: Jafus, Molly Law, Caroline and Fanny Johnson might have been the four others who were sick and treated by the doctor in the previous letter. Cameron has to be reassured that the slaves’ health is a priority, meaning that it might not always be a priority for Lewellyn.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">M: What is dropsy? || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">S: Dr. Moore is trying to treat a woman named Caroline who has been sick for some time. The doctor believes she has syphilis but the woman and her daughter deny this. Fanny is also sick, and the doctor diagnoses her with having “dropsy both of the lungs and abdomen”. He believes that both women are critical. He then informs Cameron that it has been raining heavily in Alabama, and that he doesn’t expect the cotton crop to be very good, but Cameron’s corn crop looks remarkable.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source 5: Moore, 1847-07-26 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">C: From Marengo County, Alabama to Stagville, Orange County, North Carolina. The doctor wants to know if Cameron believes that Caroline could possibly have syphilis and to inform Cameron that both women might not live.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I: The doctor compliments Cameron on his corn crops and signs off “Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant”, showing that he respects Cameron and possibly still wants Cameron to respect him. Dr. Moore doesn’t believe Caroline when she says she doesn’t have syphilis, showing he distrusts slaves.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">M: How common was syphilis among slaves? || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Caroline and Fanny were sick for years, possibly never making a full recovery, even though a doctor had attended them more than once. Medicine at the time was either not advanced enough, not readily available, or not offered to the slaves on a consistent enough basis to be fully effective. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Corroboration: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pedagogical Implications: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">SCIM-C is useful in a Social Studies classroom, as well as in a Language Arts classroom. The layout of the SCIM-C is easy to follow, so it can actually be applied in a middle school classroom. If you provide questions for each of the on the five steps, the activity will be scaffolded enough for students to complete by working individually or in pairs. If I were to use this in a 6th or7th grade classroom especially, I would do a read aloud as I read my primary source and filled out the SCIM-C chart. Looking at primary source documents and complete a SCIM-C for them would be a great way to start off a unit. Students could be presented with documents from differing viewpoints to get their minds thinking about the different ways to view the topic, rather than being stuck in one way of thinking.