After Causing History-inspired Twitter Stir, Niagara University Graduate to Speak at Alma Mater
Back in July, Dr. David Head set off a bit of a social media stir when, after boarding a Southwest Airlines flight to Philadelphia, he tweeted, “Flight #1793 is bringing the yellow fever.”
Dr. Head’s innocuous attempt to amuse his fellow historians with a centuries-old reference to Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793 triggered an immediate response from Southwest: “We don’t like hearing this and it sounds like we need to learn a bit more. Will you DM us more about what’s going on?”
The confusion was quickly resolved, as scholars pointed out that Dr. Head – a 2000 Niagara University graduate – was simply making a “nerdy historian joke” while en route to a conference of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic.
Dr. Head, now a few months removed from social media “fame,” will return to his alma mater Oct. 25 to offer a talk on “Money, Adventure, and the Cause: Spanish American Privateering from the United States in an Age of Revolution.” The presentation will focus on the Spanish American wars of independence, namely why Americans voluntarily broke laws to become privateers – vessels licensed to attack enemies in times of war – to assist in establishing the independence of another country.
The free presentation begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Gallagher Center’s Multi-Purpose Room.