Hookworms Plagued Southerners - Leading to Stereotypes
Really interesting article - hookworms infected up to 40% of US Southern population - all the way up to the 1950's and 60s.
Symptoms were lethargy and dullness which attributed to stereotypes of Southerners as lazy and stupid.
I don't know - seems to be a bit far-fetched even if there was some basis in reality.
Thoughts?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 4 | September 24, 2023 4:21 PM
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I remember seeing one of those "Shut the little fuckers up" educational films, in science class circa1970. Apparently they were still around, and they made people lethargic by draining enough blood from the linings of the intestine to cause chronic anemia.
But I don't think that was the only reason people were lethargic in the Old or Jim Crow South, I think despair and depression also had a lot to do with it. Many people lived hopeless lives back then.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | September 24, 2023 8:33 AM
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Not to mention the unbearable heat and humidity, and the generally poor diet. (Lots of poorer folks in the south in the 1950s and before lived on cornbread, biscuits and bacon grease - not exactly a diet designed to make people appear healthy, fit, and ready to fulfill their genetic intelligence potential. )
by Anonymous | reply 2 | September 24, 2023 9:38 AM
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Poor education and no infrastructure were bigger factors OP. In other words, conservvative government
by Anonymous | reply 3 | September 24, 2023 4:11 PM
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Can you get it from rimming Southern boys?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | September 24, 2023 4:21 PM
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