Frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. See more in Chapter 4 of Women & COVID-19 
“Climbing into America, Immigrants at Ellis Island.” Lewis Hine, See more in Chapter 3 of Ellis Island 
Children returning to in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. See more in Chapter 3 of Disability Justice 
An advertisement for birth control from the 1960’s. See more in Chapter 4 of Birth Control & Sterilization 
Ellis Island Statue of Annie Moore by Jeanne Rynhart. See more in Chapter 1 of Ellis Island 
Countless New Yorkers lining up to get their shot of the Smallpox vaccine in the 1940’s. See more in Chapter 1 of Vaccine Disparities 
A group of Asian women protesting in the aftermath of the Atlanta, GA shootings. See more in Chapter 3 of Women & COVID-19 
The first residence class of the Fineson Group Home in 1970. See more in Chapter 2 of Disability Justice 
A Eugenics Fair. See more in Chapter 2 of Birth Control and Sterilization
All throughout 2020, Public Health has been very much present in the public conscious. In the Spring Semester of 2021, Macaulay Honors Students at Queens College, through their People of New York City course, were invited to think deeper about Public Health through a historic lens, with a central focus on New York City.
Each week, students explored not only the diseases that ran rampant throughout the ages such as cholera and AIDS, but also New York City’s hidden diseases. These were the social constructs such as racism, xenophobia and gender discrimination that were also very prevalent, both in history and in today. Throughout this semester, we have come to learn that these societal “diseases” share an intimate and intricate relationship with Public Health, and use it as a tool to both promote the health and wellbeing of others while also putting others at risk.
This online exhibition is the culmination of our research. Each group was tasked to look into a new aspect of Public Health in history that had yet to be explored in the classroom. There are a total of five projects, each with their own focus on a public health issue. (There is no specific order to view these projects in.)