Bubonic plague case confirmed in Oregon
Image via National Geographic
Normally, we like to talk about the future around here. Sadly, the past is coming creeping back in as a man in Prineville, Oregon has a confirmed case of the bubonic plague, the very same one that knocked out one-third of Europe in the 14th century.
The man was reportedly bitten when taking a dead rodent from a stray cat's mouth. Why he was doing this remains a bit of a mystery.
Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden
Richard Perry/The New York Times
Joan Tribble at the grave of
her great-great-grandfather, Henry W. Shields, a Georgia slave owner who
is also an ancestor of Michelle Obama.
The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Mrs. Tribble, a retired bookkeeper who delights in her two grandchildren and her Sunday church mornings. They are also ancestors of Michelle Obama, the first lady.
The discovery of this unexpected family tie between the nation’s most
prominent black woman and a white, silver-haired grandmother from the
Atlanta suburbs underscores the entangled histories and racial
intermingling that continue to bind countless American families more than 140 years after the Civil War.
The link was established through more than two years of research into
Mrs. Obama’s roots, which included DNA tests of white and black
relatives. The first lady knew she had white forebears, but she did not
know who they were.
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