Oakland's African American Museum and Library survives, for now

These past few months, Mayor Jean Quan and the Oakland City Council have been searching for the cure to the city's $58 million deficit.The cures Mayor Quan has proposed come - as most medicines do - with side effects, including union concessions, pay cuts, and, in some cases, even death...death for libraries. In what many are calling "the worst case scenario budget," 14 out of 18 libraries will close. The African American Museum and Library of Oakland , or AAMLO, is one of them.

AAMLO is a museum and library, but it's also an archive, an exhibition hall, and a research facility. It has two full-time staffers, and costs the city $600,000 a year to operate - that's less than one-tenth of the Oakland Museum of California's annual budget. The proposal to close AAMLO is new, but as KALW's Holly McDede reports, operating with a low budget has been going on for a long time.

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HOLLY MCDEDE: If you're on 14th Street in downtown Oakland, it's hard to miss the African American Museum and Library of Oakland. In a neighborhood of boxy downtown buildings, AAMLO looks almost classically Roman, with tall recessed arched windows.

When Rick Moss greets me for a tour, he's tired, and for a couple of reasons. He's got a lot going on: he's the museum's director, technician, and chief bottle-washer. He also just hosted an author event attended by about 350 people. That, and there's the looming possibility that his library could close.

RICK MOSS: I'm optimistic that we'll survive this round. Not because we're, you know, like they said: these corporations, these banks were too big to fail. And I think we're too important to be shut down. Well, we're standing here in our archives.

The archive hosts more than 160 collections. They include letters from C.L. Dellums. He's the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters . There's an NAACP collection, along with copies of Black Panther and The Liberator newspapers. But one thing AAMLO doesn't have is an archivist. That requires money. So much of the work has not been curated or cataloged.

MOSS: We could certainly develop the archival collection to a greater extent than it has been to date because we don't have the professional personnel to work the collection as it should be. We are here now in our reference department.

All is quiet in the reference room, with one woman reading at her desk and a girl working on one of the computers. I ask Moss how many people usually come here each day.

Cures For The Black Death - News


Oakland's African American Museum and Library survives, for now

The cures Mayor Quan has proposed come - as most medicines do - with side effects, including union concessions, pay cuts, and, in some cases, even deathdeath for libraries. In what many are calling "the worst case scenario budget," 14 out of 18



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The Black Death: Was there a cure for the Black Death?

&Nbsp; The disease last appeared in 1665 as The Great Plague. Symptoms changed over time as the microbes evolved and resistance in human beings increased. About a third of Europe’s population died (200 million people) when plague first struck in about 1347. Victims had no idea what the disease was or what had caused it. Most doctors in Medieval times did not know hardly anything about plague or how to cure it. The population decreased quickly. The mortality rate was about 30-40%. Who knew that this disease could of caused so much damage to the ancient Medieval society? The spread of the deadly plague in England was swift and the death rate was almost 50% in isolated populations such as monasteries. Some of you may wonder why this disease is called the black death. The reason is that it caused blackening of the skin around swellings.  Headaches were relieved by rose, lavender, sage and bay. Sickness or nausea was treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung problems were treated with liquorice and comfrey. Vinegar was used as a cleansing agent as it was believed that it would kill disease. But bloodletting was commonly thought to be one of the best ways to treat the plague.  Black Death was treated by lancing the painful swellings and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Various other remedies were tried including arsenic, lily root and even dried toad. Wouldn't it be strange if the next time you had a headahe you went to the doctors and they gave you lavender to eat?  During later outbreaks of plague people experimented with using tobacco to help cure the disease.


Cures For The Black Death - Bookshelf

The Black Death, A Personal History

The Black Death, A Personal History

Lengthy excerpts are quoted in G. Deaux, The Black Death 1347 (New York, 1969), pp. ... admonished the sick to first seek cures for the ills of their souls. ...

The black death, natural and human disaster in medieval Europe

The black death, natural and human disaster in medieval Europe

It began with the concept of free treatment for the poor, but was given impetus to expand by the Black Death and the second plague pandemic. ...

The Black death

The Black death

Because they are ignorant of the cause and quality of the disease they cannot cure it; for as the prince of doctors says: 'How can you cure, ...

The Black Death

The Black Death

Describes the Black Death and its devastation on the European population in the fourteenth century, including what caused the plague, how it spread, and ...

The Black Death

The Black Death

Given such handicaps it would have been miraculous if the medical profession had met the Black Death with anything much more useful than awe-struck despair. ...

Casual Info Directory


Cures for the Black Death
The Black Death wreaked havoc throughout Medieval England. ... Cures' for the Black Death went from the absurd to having a degree of common sense about them. ...

Answers.com - Is there any cures for the black death
Conditions and Diseases question: Is there any cures for the black death? noThe main reason for Black plague was that nothing was properly clean, so ...

What is the cure for the Black Death? | Answerbag
If the Black Death was, as is generally held, bubonic plague, then it can be stopped by antibiotics. But if, as the recent rethink on the Medieval Black Death...

The Black Death of 1348 to 1350
In Medieval England, the Black Death was to kill 1.5 million people ... Death could be very quick for the weaker victims. It symptoms were described in 1348 by a ...

Answers.com - What is the cure for Black Death
Conditions and Diseases question: What is the cure for Black Death? The Black Death (Bubonic Plague)'s cure isn't that good. ...
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