As Covid-19 has changed the way we live, work, travel, and communicate, the medievalist community has taken the opportunity to discuss the history of pandemics and highlight that the impact of the 14th-century Black Death was more global than the usual Euro-centric focus that generally dominates discussions. Medievalists have, at their disposal, ways to understand past human responses to viruses and pandemics in order to make connections to today’s pandemic; however, those of us in the humanities, particularly literary scholars and historians, have failed in some respects to connect racially motivated pandemic responses in history that parallel more recent reactions to Covid-19. Several op-ed writings or comments by white medievalists have largely ignored that this crisis has laid the greatest burden at the feet of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community both within and outside of academia. Building on Cedric Robinson’s theory of racial capitalism, this paper will not only highlight instances of racial violence in medieval Europe as a result of the Black Death, it will also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Black communities around the globe, and examine ways in which we as scholars can do better in our antiracist pedagogy.

Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm is a literary historian specializing in the early medieval period. Several of her current projects center on race in early England and racism within the field of early English studies. She is near completion of her second book co-written with Dr. Erik Wade on race in early England. MRO’s public writing highlights white supremacy within academia and emphasize misappropriation of the Middle Ages by white nationalists. She is also an antiracist activist seeking justice and equity for Black lives. MRO has just begun a Provost Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto. You can find her on twitter at: @isasaxonists or Medium at: @mrambaranolm