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ASU Professor Aims To Document History Of Coronavirus As It Happens

COVID-19 graffiti in Tempe
Graffiti on a Pedestrian Bridge,” A Journal of the Plague Year: an Archive of CoVid19, accessed April 23, 2020
Black spray paint mural on the pedestrian bridge crossing U.S. 60 at College Avenue in Tempe.

We’ve all gotten the sense at one point in our lives that we’re living through history, and that’s certainly the case right now as we’re watching our lives change so much while working to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But, who writes that history? Who decides what’s included in it?

One of The Show's guests wants you to know that it’s you who makes those decisions.

Mark Tebeau is a professor of history at Arizona State University, and he is leading an effort to create a public history of the pandemic as it plays out. It’s called " A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19" — a play on Daniel Defoe’s novel of the same name, which documents the bubonic plague in London in 1665.

Tebeau and other historians, artists and students are currently gathering submissions for this living, digital archive. The Show spoke with him for details.

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Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.