Italian Benevolent Society Tomb, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans

There’s so much history in cemeteries, much of it forgotten. New Orleans had multiple terrible yellow fever epidemics and malaria was endemic. It took large scale public health projects to eradicate these diseases. The CDC we have today originally was started to eradicate malaria.

We have forgotten that this country fought and won tough battles against diseases before. Maybe if we relearned this history, it would help us find the strength to beat the current pandemic.