PBS Broadcast of Documentary Film, “Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana”
Join Humanities Montana in celebrating the great work of grantee Dee Garceau and Dance River Production’s PBS broadcast of the new documentary film, “The Blue Death: The 1918 Influenza in Montana.” The broadcast will be aired wherever a Montana PBS signal is available, including several subscription-based streaming services and their on-demand streaming service, Montana PBS Passport. Learn more about viewing options at montanapbs.org.
“It began as a tickle in the throat, and led to crushing fatigue. At first Montanans were not alarmed; seasonal flus were as common as blizzards and chinooks. But this was a different, deadly beast. The 1918 influenza killed more Americans than World Wars I and II combined.
Six Montanans tell their stories: How did they survive this terrifying public health crisis? Explore the pandemic through the eyes of a Blackfeet couple, a white youth in a railroad town, an Army nurse, a Finnish immigrant, a Crow law school graduate, and an African-American entrepreneur. What can they tell us about fear and loss, isolation and responsibility, community and resilience?
These stories were drawn from firsthand accounts. Voiceovers were scripted from letters, diaries, oral histories, and newspapers. Archival photographs, reenactments, period music, and interviews with indigenous elders and history scholars recall the times. Montana landscapes and places remind us that this was home, that this was us.”