DC Health Histories

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This joint Georgetown–Howard course explores Washington, D.C.’s hidden health stories, from the 1918 influenza pandemic to the AIDS crisis, tracing how race, culture, power, and activism have shaped health in the nation’s capital from 1879 to the present. Students will investigate disease, demographics, cultural movements, and social forces through a multi-method approach that includes archival research, population health analysis, oral history, GIS, ethnography, and data storytelling. Throughout the semester, guest scholars will introduce a different method, linking it to important aspects of DC’s health history. Through hands-on exercises and fieldwork in the city’s archives and community institutions, students will critically engage data, narratives, and material culture. The course culminates in the creation of a multi-method, public-facing project.