Picture from: http://www.niica.on.ca/ghana/CapitalCity.aspx
"In May of 1771, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston successfully used small-pox inoculations to treat a smallpox epidemic responsible for 844 deaths in the Boston area. Boylston was encouraged to experiment with the inoculation by Reverend Cotton Mather, who had learned of immunization from Onesimus, his slave. Onesimus had described to Mather the manner in which his people would deliberately infect themselves to establish immunity to the virus. Boyleston used Onesimus' method of inoculation on his son, Thomas, and two slaves. He later inoculated as many as 240 others, of whom 6 actually contracted the disease." -- From Black Saga: The African American Experience by Charles M. Christian
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